Roskill’s new Non-Metallurgical Bauxite & Alumina report

Roskill is releasing its new Non-Metallurgical Bauxite & Alumina report with forecasts to 2021. The report is essential reading for anyone requiring a comprehensive overview of the sector. Non-Metallurgical Bauxite & Alumina: Global Industry, Markets & Outlook, 9th Edition, 2016 is now available from Roskill Information Services Ltd.

Demand for calcined bauxite – such as that produced by Mineracao Curimbaba in Brazil (pictured) – in the manufacture of ceramic proppants is expected to grow by more than 5%py out to 2021, according Roskill.

The ceramic proppants sector is forecast to become the largest market for non-metallurgical bauxite by 2021, overtaking the refractories industry. Consumption of bauxite in refractories, both directly and via brown fused alumina, accounted for more than 20% of the total non-metallurgical bauxite market in 2015.

Demand for calcined bauxite in production of ceramic proppants is expected to grow by more than 5%py out to 2021 as North America and China target greater exploitation of unconventional oil and gas reservoirs, according to Roskill’s new Non-Metallurgical Bauxite & Alumina report.

Within only a decade, hydraulic fracturing has proved to be the key to unlocking vast resources contained in oil and gas shales, led by the USA. Hydraulic fracturing or ‘fracking’ is done to enhance permeability and increase flow to oil and natural gas production wells.

This has led to a booming demand for fracturing (frac) sands, used during fracking to prop open the fractures in reservoir rocks. In the USA, domestic frac sand demand leapt from 1.5Mt in 2002 to 54Mt in 2014, but subsequently fell to an estimated 45Mt in 2015.

The sudden drop in oil prices from US$105/bbl in June 2014 to below US$45/bbl by the end of January 2015 led to a drop in the US rig count of 17% over the period. Consumption of all proppants is estimated to have fallen by some 20% in 2015, but this was more pronounced in the higher-cost ceramic proppants sector.

Most proppants are based on natural, rounded quartz sands, but approximately 10% of the market comprises ceramic proppants manufactured mainly from kaolin and/or bauxite. Ceramic proppants have a better crush strength than natural sand proppants and are more suitable for high-pressure drilling situations.

Ceramic proppant consumption is likely to remain subdued in 2016, but from 2018 onwards demand is expected to increase; notably in North America and China where unconventional gas fields are currently being developed – such as the Sulige tight sandstone gas field in Inner Mongolia.

Alumina eyes hi-tech markets

Non-metallurgical bauxite and alumina markets are significant industries in their own right, but are often discussed within the context of the much larger aluminium feedstocks sector. This is despite non-metallurgical grades typically being much more tailored and higher-cost products.

Non-metallurgical aluminas are increasingly serving hi-tech, specialist applications; one of the fastest growing markets since 2011 has been aluminosilicate glass, which has high loadings of calcined alumina. Aluminosilicate glass demand has grown swiftly owing to its use as the substrate for Thin Film Transistors (TFTs) in liquid crystal display (LCD) panels.

One of the main trends in LCD panels has been increasing screen sizes for LCD televisions. The average TV screen size was around 37 inches in 2013 but this is forecast to grow to 40” by 2016, because of increasing shipments of >50” TV screens.

Other glass sectors, such as solar glass for photovoltaic (PV) cells, are niche but emerging markets for speciality calcined aluminas. Despite a slowdown in PV cell installation rates after the 2009 economic downturn, there was strong recovery in 2014 and 2015 – contributing to a global installation growth rate of over 40%py since 2010.

The use of ultra high-purity aluminas in production of synthetic sapphires is also on the rise. The bulk of the sapphire substrate market is for LED lighting and the trend is towards higher luminous flux and larger diameter wafers. There are also promising growth prospects in non-LED applications. Smartphone manufacturer Apple used sapphire as a cover material for the camera lens and touch ID sensor in later models of its iPhone. The company also used sapphire in the display screens for some models of the Apple Watch.

There is also good demand for calcined alumina in a variety of ceramics components, including the higher value structural and functional ceramic products. Markets that are likely to offer the best demand growth rates include catalytic substrates, electronic ceramics (substrates, pressure sensors) and spark plugs.

While hi-tech sectors offer exciting prospects for higher purity calcined aluminas, these are specialist and lower volume markets compared to traditional applications. Nearly 60% of total calcined alumina consumption was for the production of refractories in 2015 – including material used indirectly via spinels and refractory ceramic fibres.

In 2015, Chinese crude steel production fell for the first time in modern memory, from 822Mt in 2014 to 803.8Mt. While Chinese steel output is expected to contract further in the period out to 2021 – causing a similar decline in refractory use – refractory bauxite and alumina demand is forecast to buck the trend as end users call for higher quality products.

Regulations drive alumina chemicals

Elsewhere, non-metallurgical aluminas have benefitted from tighter regulations in flame retardant applications. The use of speciality aluminium hydroxide (ATH) in flame retardants has grown strongly since 2011 and accounted for nearly 15% of the total market in 2015.

ATH is now the major mineral primary flame retardant in use and has gained a strong market position compared to its main rival, synthetic magnesium hydroxide. The flame retardants market is now the second largest application for ATH globally, although it uses much lower volumes than the aluminium chemicals industry.

Speciality ATH may be at risk of supply tightness if there is no new production capacity added between 2016 and 2021, and if flame retardant and filler markets grow as projected.

Overall, demand for non-metallurgical alumina (including calcined and ATH grades) is projected to grow in excess of global GDP in the period out to 2021. Non-metallurgical bauxite demand is likely to grow at slightly under GDP as its use in some applications – such as Portland cement, slag adjusters and chemicals – could remain stable or contract slightly. The main highlights are likely to be the ceramic proppants and mineral wool sectors.

For further information, contact:
Tel: +44 20 8417 0087. Fax +44 20 8417 1308. Email: info@roskill.com Web: www.roskill.com

Learn first hand market trends for proppants and oilfield minerals by attending

Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Houston 2016

5-7 June 2016, Houston

Confirmed speakers on proppants:

Developments in proppant selection for hydraulic fracturing
Pickard Trepess, Managing Director, FracPT FZE, Dubai

Ceramic proppant manufacturing
Joe Roettle, Global Sales Manager, Ecutec Barcelona SL/M-I SWACO, Spain

Click here for Programme details

Early Bird Rates for a limited period | Sponsorship & Exhibit Opportunities

Contact: Ismene ismene@imformed.com | +44 (0)7905 771 494

Programme Update

REGISTER NOW

Discharging a vessel at European Bulk Services BV (EBS) in Rotterdam. Delegates will be visiting EBS as part of the Mineral Logistics Forum 2016 Field Trip.Courtesy EBS

The networking and knowledge hub for the industrial minerals logistics market

Shipping outlook | Logistics trends | Kaolin | Talc | Borates | Papermaking | Vienna hub | Handling

The minerals terminal at European Bulk Services BV (EBS), Rotterdam, one of the site visits for the Mineral Logistics Forum 2016 Field Trip. Courtesy EBS

Without due care and attention in securing optimal logistics systems and supply routes, the future of a mineral operation or project is challenged right from the start.

Mineral Logistics Forum 2016 brings together a keynote panel of leading mineral producers, consumers, and logistics experts to present on the latest trends and developments in industrial mineral logistics.

Moderated by Mike O’Driscoll, IMFORMED, and Clive Kessell, Coastalwise Ltd, a full day of presentations, discussion, and networking will provide an invaluable insight on industrial mineral logistics for mineral buyers, suppliers, traders, distributors, agents, and all those active in port handling services.

Mineral Logistics Forum 2016 is hosted in Rotterdam, one of Europe’s main port gateways to 350 million consumers with an annual throughput of 450 million tonnes.

A convivial Welcome Reception takes place on the preceding evening, Monday 11 April 2016, and the day following the speaker programme, Wednesday 13 April 2016, hosts a Field Trip to mineral facilities in the Port of Rotterdam.

Programme (subject to change)

Monday 11 April 2016

18.00-20.00 Welcome Reception, Royal Maas Yacht Club
Sponsored by Rotterdam Port Promotion Council, Port of Rotterdam Authority

The Royal Maas Yacht Club was established in 1851 and is one of oldest sailing clubs of the Netherlands. The “Vereeniging” possesses a spectacular clubhouse near the river ‘Nieuwe Maas’, from which river she derives her name. The present clubhouse was built in 1909.

The Royal Maas Yacht Club: venue for the Welcome Reception for Mineral Logistics Forum 2016 sponsored by Rotterdam Port Promotion Council and Port of Rotterdam Authority. Courtesy Royal Maas Yacht Club

Rotterdam Port Promotion Council will provide water cabs to transfer all delegates from the Mainport Hotel quay to the Royal Maas Yacht Club between 17.45-18.15. Please note: the last cab will depart not later than 18.20. Each cab can handle about 10 persons and the trip will take about 10 minutes. Return by water cabs to Mainport Hotel from 20.00-20.30.

Tuesday 12 April 2016

09.00: Opening remarks & Introduction
Mike O’Driscoll, Director, IMFORMED, UK

09.15 Dry bulk shipping market trends and outlook
Marc Pauchet, Senior Analyst, Braemar ACM Shipbroking, UK

09.45 Overview of the importance of industrial mineral logistics
Ulrich Koester, Managing Owner, Maritime Tecnet GmbH, Germany

SSP is sponsoring an optional harbour RIB ride, and the Closing Reception at Mineral Logistics Forum 2016

10.15 Coffee

11.00 From ship to storage: evaluating the full chain of minerals handling
Claus Ohlmeyer, Haver & Boecker OHG, Germany

11.30 Vienna: Europe’s inland multi-mode logistics hub for minerals
Friedrich Lehr, Managing Director, Wiener Hafen Management GmbH, Austria

12.00 Lunch

14.00 Paper kaolin supply chain logistics
Joost van Moorsel, Senior Logistics Manager, Imerys, the Netherlands

14.30 Minerals & pigments for papermaking: source to end user
Ilari Valkeinen, Vice President Purchasing, Stora Enso, Finland

15.00 Coffee

15.30 Borates supply to Europe: logistics considerations
Miguel Galindo, General Manager Sales & Supply Chain EMEA, Rio Tinto Minerals, Spain

16.00 China’s talc supply chain logistics
Harald Tropper, Sales Director, Liaoning Aihai Talc Co. Ltd, China

Transshipping minerals onto barge at Rotterdam Bulk Terminal BV (RBT), one of the site visits for the Mineral Logistics Forum 2016 Field Trip. Courtesy RBT

16.30 Closing Remarks

17.00 Optional RIB Ride & Closing Reception

Sponsored by SSP

Field Trip

Wednesday 13 April 2016

Visit to industrial mineral handling operations in the Port of Rotterdam.
European Bulk Services BV (EBS)
Rotterdam Bulk Terminal BV (RBT)

Mineral Logistics Forum 2015 attracted over 90 leading international players across the industrial minerals supply chain (see link for attendees, feedback, review).
“Good combination of topics with very inspiring speakers”
Marian Middelhuis, Buyer Transportation, Nedmag Industries, the Netherlands

“Compact professional conference, all the people you need to meet. Very good presentations.”
Michel Moons, Manager Dry Bulk, SEA-invest NV, Belgium

Ensure you don’t miss out on learning about the latest trends in
Industrial Minerals Logistics – Register for Mineral Logistics Forum 2016

Contact: Ismene Clarke | +44 (0)7905 771 494 | ismene@imformed.com

India sparks healthy prospects for refractories

Courtesy Tata Steel

On 20-22 January 2016, the 11th India International Refractories Congress (IREFCON16), organised by the Indian Refractory Makers Association (IRMA), took place in Hyderabad. This well run and well attended biennial event is ideal for taking the pulse of the Indian and Asian refractories industry. As one of the official media partners, IMFORMED was there to do just that.

Some 45 presentations covered a wide variety of topics tied to the overall conference theme of “Value enhancement through refractories”.

Among the presentations were some very interesting indicators on trends in refractory mineral demand and application which are shared here.

Learn about the fast evolving refractories recycling business at Mineral Recycling Forum 2016, 14-15 March 2016, Rotterdam; presentations from LKAB Minerals, RHI, Horn, Deref, and Secopta; Register Now.

Indian steel outlook positive

The outlook for India’s steel industry, certainly within India, is pretty bullish. Compared with the gloom elsewhere in the world regarding steel growth, outlook prospects for refractories demand in India are not bad.

Sure, some of the projected steel capacity claims for India in the next decade may seem a bit ambitious, but there are clear signs that steel production and demand will increase in the country.

Despite world steel production experiencing a continued low growth rate (a forecast 0.7% growth by the World Steel Association (WSA) in its latest Short Range Outlook 2015-2016), India’s crude steel production for 2015 reached 89.6m tonnes, up by 2.6% on 2014. India has now overtaken the USA into the world no.3 slot, accounting for 5.5% of world steel production

The WSA expects India to be one of the fastest growing areas in steel use. With the GDP/capita in India of around US$5,815, coupled with urbanisation that is below 35% of the total population, and a steel use per person of less than 100kg/person/year, these are signs for a potential rapid acceleration of the economy.

The Indian government plans to step up infrastructure spending from 5% of GDP to 10% by 2017, and the country is committed to investing US$1 trillion in infrastructure during the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17). The initiative has the potential to generate an additional demand for steel of 18.75m. tpa.

At the time of its release, India’s National Steel Policy 2005 had envisaged steel production to reach 110m. tonnes by 2019-20. However, the Working Group on Steel for the 12th Five Year Plan has projected that domestic crude steel capacity in the county is likely to be 140m tonnes by 2016-17, and has the potential to reach 149m. tonnes.

The long term perspective of the National Steel Policy is to achieve a capacity of 300m. tpa by 2025.

Tata Steel’s Jamshedpur plant is the company’s largest at 9.7m. tpa crude steel; Tata is to add some 20m. tpa in additional capacity across several projects during 2016-17.Courtesy Tata Steel

The Indian refractories industry has an annual production capacity of about 2m. tpa, although only about 60-70% is utilised at present. However, with such an optimistic steel outlook, the future appears bright, if not at least promising.

The steel sector, which accounts for about 70% of Indian refractories output, has already boosted refractories growth. Estimates for the market sector’s growth were reported at 9.85% over the period 2013-2018 in a report by TechNavio. For 2013-14, the Indian Refractory Makers Association reported the industry grew 10.5%.

Prospects for the future of Indian refractories are also perhaps indicated by the recent commitment to the country by the likes of Calderys and Kerneos.

In September 2015, Calderys inaugurated its third plant in India at Wankaner, Gujarat, with a production capacity of 50,000 tpa.

Kerneos India Aluminate Pvt Ltd, the Indian subsidiary of the French calcium aluminates producer, is establishing its first plant in India at Pudi village in Visakhapatnam district, with an annual capacity of 30,000 tonnes.

Indian refractory outlook: using more domestic minerals

Dr J.N. Tiwari, Chairman of the Indian Refractory Makers Association, said: “The Indian refractory industry has a promising future for those that have technology, have potential to change, and can offer a total package to customers, especially steelmakers.”¹.

He reminded that the two key factors influencing the future were the performance of India’s steel industry (growing at around 3% against a projected 6.5% p.a.) and the gradual decline in specific consumption of refractories.

However, another integral factor in helping to improve India’s refractory industry is to enhance the development and use of domestic refractory raw materials.

Steps to be taken to facilitate this include:
• Correction in the trade duty structure of raw material and finished products.
• Domestic procurement of products required in turn-key package
• Focus on making domestic products cost competitive
• Increase in export customer base for products made with domestic raw materials

For many years, it has been known that the majority of raw materials for manufacturing magnesia-based refractories have had to be imported. Likewise, there is limited domestic availability of high purity clays, and aluminosilicate minerals (excepting some diaspore in central India and sillimanite beach sand which is undergoing evaluation for refractory use – see later).

Tiwari urged that the focus of the industry should be on utilisation of available raw materials – such as bauxite and magnesite – with advanced beneficiation and processing.

Also the manufacturing of composites, plasma fusion materials, and utilisation of graphene and exfoliated carbon for example, are major research areas to be worked upon.

“With all conservative estimates, if India adds an additional 30-30 million tonnes steel in the next 5-7 years by overcoming all mining and infrastructural restrictions, it will give a great boost to the refractory industry” concluded Tiwari.

Cleaner steels using MgO & higher C refractories

Demand for cleaner steels will require more aggressive metallurgical slags which in turn will require higher wear resistant and higher carbon content containing refractories².

This is expected to lead to the replacement of alumina-based andalusite and bauxite grades by magnesia-carbon (fired and fused), alumino-magnesia-carbon, and dolomite grades.

There is a clear future market demand in the steel industry for use of thinner steel vessel linings to increase the value in use by higher steel tap-weight and lower specific refractory installation in operations.

In general, the long term total refractory consumption for steelmaking is expected to be in the range of 5-10kg/t on average, which essentially follows the trend in Japan.

Current regional rates of specific refractory consumption (kg refractories/tonne steel) are China 20kg/t; Europe and Americas 10kg/t; and Japan 8 kg/t.

Jurgen Cappel, RHI AG, said: “Refractory producers worldwide have to consolidate their growth expectations to these market conditions and forecast and develop their mid- and longer term strategies accordingly. Global growth of steel production (driven by China in the last two decades) has come to stagnation and will not recover in foreseeable future.

Refractory market drivers for magnesia, fused magnesia trends and global outlook, and refractory magnesia world supply review, are among many high level topics covered at MagForum 2016, 9-11 May 2016, Vienna; sponsored by RHI AG, including a Field Trip to RHI’s Veitsch plant. Early Bird Rates available for a limited period. Register Now.

Mag-spinel, SiC, nano-silica for cement kilns

Regarding cement kiln refractories, R. von der Heyde, RHI AG et al concluded that as chemical attack, particularly from the intense use of alternative fuel is steadily increasing, standard refractory concepts are reaching their limits and need to be reviewed and adapted³.

Several solutions have been put forward including the impregnation of alumina bricks with nano-sized silica; more flexible magnesia-spinel bricks based on rotary kiln sintered synthetic magnesia; and the use of silicon carbide in both fired alumina bricks and castables.

Increasing use of microsilica in castables

Microsilica has become a key component in modern refractory castables⁴. Microsilica, also known as silica fume, has become the generic name for condensed silica fumes produced as by-products of silicon and ferrosilicon production.

Silica fume may also be produced as a by-product of fused zirconia. Imerys Fused Minerals, for example, produces silica fume which is used in concrete for civil engineering applications and refractory monolithics.

Key attributes of using microsilica include: reducing setting times in castables, green strength is increased while yielding good flow with low water addition without influencing the high temperature properties.

Dirk Auge, Trader, Cofermin Rohstoffe GmbH & Co. KG, Germany will be presenting on “Silica fume and its market applications” at Mineral Recycling Forum 2016, 14-15 March 2016, Rotterdam. Register Now.

Mullite from sillimanite in castable linings

Synthetic mullite has traditionally been produced from sintering (or fusing) bauxite or kaolin, or blends of each. Occasionally other aluminosilicate minerals have been used as feedstock, such as kyanite. There are very few producers of mullite worldwide.

Sillimanite sand sourced from Trimex Industries on the coast of Andhra Pradesh, has been used to produce two types of dense mullite aggregate: one with a residual silica glassy phase from sillimanite dissociation, and the other completely converted to mullite with additional alumina⁵.

The sillimanite sand was milled, pressed, and heated for two hours at 1,600°C in the presence of ZnO additive to obtain dense mullite in the laboratory. Particle size was d50 5microns, which is achievable in industrial scale.

The process was scaled up to semi-industrial level with roll briquetting and nodulising, and dense mullite aggregate was produced successfully. These mullite aggregates were used to produce low cement castables which showed good placing, hardening, and drying properties.

Mullite aggregate manufactured from sillimanite with extra alumina showed better thermal shock resistance than those without additional alumina, owing to the presence of a glassy phase from sillimanite.

Trimex Group has set up mining and mineral separation facilities based on the existing Srikurmam heavy mineral beach sand deposit in Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh, to produce ilmenite, rutile, zircon, garnet and sillimanite. The plant claims to host the world’s largest sillimanite producing capacity at 70,000 tpa. Sintered mullite from this sillimanite has been successfully tested for refractory use.Courtesy Trimex Group.

Nano-additives & 3D printed refractories

New developments for refractories of the future included observations on the effect of nanomaterial additives and 3D printing⁶.

In MgO-C refractories, the use of nanomaterials added to the bulk matrix help in absorbing and relieving stresses developed by thermal expansion and shrinkage of refractory particles, and increasing the corrosion resistance of the refractory at high temperatures owing to its high surface to volume ratio.

For example, nano-zirconia added in small amounts (around 2wt%) to dolomite refractories showed improvement in densification, thermal shock resistance, slaking resistance, and slag corrosion resistance.

Also addition of nano-iron oxide in magnesia-chrome refractories dramatically improves brick performance.

Other developments included chrome-free bricks for secondary refining process, silica bricks with high density with high SiC and TiO₂ contents, cordierite-based refractory coating, monolithic lining for steelmaking ladles and transfer ladles, and alumina-silicate fibre insulating materials.

Some of these innovations have been applied in Japanese steel plants, such as Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp., but Atanu Ranjan Pal, Tata Steel, acknowledged that there is still work to be done before their widespread use.

3D printing of refractories has been utilised for the printing of complex shaped ceramics. So called “additive manufacturing”, is defined as the formation of objects, by a layer by layer joining process where the design is fed through 3D model data, contrary to subtractive manufacturing methods.

Benefits in using 3D printing include design complexity, speed to market, and waste reduction. Both silica and alumina have been used as feed material.

Fused magnesia bricks for lime kilns

With India on the threshold of a rapid growth in steel production to 300m. tpa by 2025, there is consequently anticipated high demand for all steel raw material inputs.

Lime is an integral part of the steelmaking process and is added as a fluxing agent. The volumes required vary according steelmaking processes: Lhoist advises that every tonne of steel manufactured requires 30-70kg of lime, and 100-200kg of limestone; the World Steel Association notes that for BOF steelmaking, 300kg of limestone is required per tonne of steel.

According to Debarati Nandy, MECON Ltd, this projected increase in Indian steel production will require enhancement of India’s production capacity of lime with the installation of additional and new lime kilns⁷.

However there are widespread problems of hydration of magnesia bricks, owing to exposure to moisture creating cracks in bricks, leading to damage of the refractory lining.

To address this, the use of fused magnesia of high density, low porosity, and large crystal size is recommended owing to its high hydration resistance property.

Other recommendations include: impurity control – MgO refractories with a high CaO/SiO₂ ratio are more sensitive to hydration, and Al₂O₃ content should not be more than 4wt%; since longer exposure to a humid hot climate results in a higher hydration rate, care should be taken in transportation and storage of refractories; external coating after installation; and minimise time of kiln idling after brick installation.

Fused magnesia trends and global outlook by Asım Bilge, Kümaş Manyezit San. AŞ, Turkey, will be presented at MagForum 2016, 9-11 May 2016, Vienna. Early Bird Rates available for a limited period. Register Now.

High purity aluminas for cleaner steels

Andus Buhr, Almatis, expounded on the merits of high purity alumina aggregates being suitable for clean steel production⁸.

Alumina-spinel refractories have high wear resistance and enable extraordinarily thin wear linings, but still providing the required safety and achieving low specific material consumption. Spinel forming refractories such as alumina-magnesia castables and alumina-magnesia-carbon bricks have a “self-healing” property by closing joints in the refractory lining.

The low thermal conductivity of alumina refractories compared to carbon and graphite containing basic materials leads to significantly lower heat losses in steel ladles. Costs for such heat losses can represent >50% of ladle refractory costs.

Sintered alumina aggregates show advantages over fused aggregates such as lower weight and lower thermal conductivity caused by higher amounts of closed internal porosity in the sintered aggregates.

References (IREFCON16 presentations)

1. Dr J.N. Tiwari, Indian Refractory Makers Association: Refractory Industry in India: Present Scenario & Future Outlook.
2. Jürgen Cappel, RHI AG, et al: High Value added Refractories for High Quality Steelmaking.
3. R. von der Heyde, RHI AG et al: Refractories for the Cement Industry with Special Focus on Alternative Fuel Impact
4. Bjorn Myhre, Elkem Silicon Materials: Microsilica – Use and Value in Refractory Castables.
5. G. Bhattacharya, Kerneos et al: Synthetic Mullite Aggregate from Sillimanite Beach Sand for Improved Castable Linings.
6. Atanu Ranjan Pal, Tata Steel et al: Global Steel Scenario and Future of Refractory Technology.
7. Debarati Nandy, MECON Ltd et al: Effect of Hydration in Magnesia based Refractories for Lime Kiln Industry.
8. Andus Buhr, Almatis Alumina: Value Enhancement Through Engineered Alumina Products for Monolithic And Brick Applications.

 FREE PDF DOWNLOAD OF THIS REPORT

MagForum 2016 eyes options for suppliers & buyers

These are testing times for the global magnesia business. Producers are looking to diversify into non-refractory markets amid a significant downturn in the steel industry.

IMFORMED’s inaugural magnesium minerals and markets conference, MagForum 2016, 9-11 May 2016, in Vienna, will be taking the pulse of the magnesia industry and looking to forward strategies.

Early Bird Registration €1050 | £800 | US$1200

Save €250! Deadline Next Tuesday 29 March 2016

Contact Ismene
T: 44 (0)7905 771 494 | ismene@imformed.com

Following a Field Trip to RHI’s plant at Veitsch, this year celebrating its 135th Anniversary, the 2-day conference kicks off with a high profile keynote discussion panel featuring producers, consumers, and independent experts discussing the status and outlook for magnesia.

Moderated by Mike O’Driscoll, the panel comprises senior management participants drawn from RHI, Magnesita, Grecian Magnesite, and Refratechnik, while former Shinagawa Australia managing director, Richard Flook, provides an independent take on the market.

    
RHI’s state-of-the-art refractories plant at Veitsch is the venue of the MagForum 2016 Field Trip. Courtesy RHI AG

As well as comprehensively reviewing world supply trends, MagForum 2016 will also shine a light on key non-refractory magnesia outlets.

These include market opportunities in environmental applications, hydrometallurgy, cement boards, welding, carbon capture, chemicals, flame retardants, and ceramics.

Despite the current downturn, refractories will remain a significant volume market for dead burned and fused magnesia, so MagForum 2016 will cover the latest developments in meeting raw material requirements as well as examining the outlook for refractory market drivers such as in steel, cement, and glass.

As anyone knows when markets get tough, it’s networking and knowledge acquisition which proves decisive in market survival.

Many leading players have already registered, join them at MagForum 2016 to see how your company can benefit from an intelligently programmed and moderated magnesia conference.

PROGRAMME*

MONDAY 9 May 2016

FIELD TRIP: RHI VEITSCH PLANT
08.00-16.00 More details | Itinerary
Delegates wishing to participate should contact Ismene as soon as possible
T: 44 (0)7905 771 494 | ismene@imformed.com

WELCOME RECEPTION
18.00 Melia Hotel. Sponsored by RHI.
Welcome Address: Franz Buxbaum, Chief Operating Officer, RHI AG, Austria

TUESDAY 10 May 2016

09.00 Introduction
Mike O’Driscoll, Director, IMFORMED, UK

KEYNOTE DISCUSSION PANEL
09.15 Status & outlook for the magnesia market

Moderator
Mike O’Driscoll, Director, IMFORMED, UK
Panellists
Andreas Kriegl, Head of Raw Material Supply, RHI AG, Austria
Otto Alexandre Levy Reis, Chief Operating Officer, Magnesita Refratários SA, Brazil
Michael Tsoukatos, Business Development Director, Grecian Magnesite SA, Greece
Richard Flook, Managing Principal, Mosman Resources, Australia
Dr Hans-Jürgen Klischat, Head of Research & Development/Quality Management,
Refratechnik Cement GmbH, Germany

10.00 Coffee

GLOBAL SUPPLY TRENDS
11.00 Asia-Pacific magnesia supply round-up
Richard Flook, Managing Principal, Mosman Resources, Australia & Ian Wilson, Consultant, UK
11.30 Europe/Middle East/Africa magnesia supply round-up
Kerry Satterthwaite, Division Manager – Carbon & Chemicals, Roskill Information Services Ltd, UK
12.00 Magnesia in the Americas: Reliable stalwarts and new opportunities
E. Lee Bray, Mineral Commodity Specialist, US Geological Survey, USA

12.30 Lunch

DEAD BURNED MAGNESIA | FUSED MAGNESIA
14.00 High purity magnesia raw materials for refractories
Sonja Larissegger, Technical Marketing Manager, RHI AG, Austria
14.30 Fused magnesia trends and global outlook
Asım Bilge, Production Engineer, DBM & FM Production Dept., Kümaş Manyezit San. AŞ, Turkey

15.00 Coffee

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT | CEMENT BOARDS
15.30 What it takes to bring a successful magnesite project to market
Paul Rix, Director, Archer Exploration Ltd, Australia
16.00 Modelpan: a new generation of magnesia building boards
Sibel Hizlan, General Manager, AK ALEV, Turkey

16.30 Close of Day 1

WEDNESDAY 11 May 2016

REFRACTORIES | WELDING
09.00 Refractory market drivers outlook for magnesia
Ted Dickson, TAK Consultancy, UK
09.30 The use of magnesia in welding applications
David Fedor, Global Consumable Chemicals Manager, Lincoln Electric Co., USA

10.00 Coffee

ENVIRONMENTAL | FLAME RETARDANTS
11.00 Emerging environmental & high value applications for magnesia
Akio Ishida, Director & Managing Executive Officer, Ube Material Industries Ltd, Japan
11.30 Flame retardant & chemical markets
Samantha Wietlisbach, Senior Analyst, IHS, Switzerland

12.00 Lunch

HYDROMETALLURGY | CERAMICS | CARBON CAPTURE
13.30 Magnesia: its use and abuse in hydrometallurgical applications
Mike Miller, Mike Miller Consulting Services, Australia
14.00 The use of magnesite in the production of ceramics
Eleni Iskou, Sales Manager for Specialities, Grecian Magnesite SA, Greece
14.30 A new magnesite processing technology for highly reactive CCM, with Direct CO2 capture
Dr Mark Sceats, Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Director, Calix Ltd, Australia

15.00 Close of Conference

*subject to change

Early Bird Registration €1050 | £800 | US$1200

Deadline Next Tuesday 29 March 2016

Contact Ismene
T: 44 (0)7905 771 494 | ismene@imformed.com

Mineral Recycling Forum 2016 Review

Last month witnessed the successful launch of IMFORMED’s inaugural Mineral Recycling Forum held in Rotterdam during 14-15 March.

Over 100 delegates came away enriched with knowledge and new contacts for one of the fastest evolving industrial mineral sectors: raw materials from recycled waste products.

Darren Wilson, COO, LKAB Minerals, welcomed delegates to Mineral Recycling Forum 2016

Mineral Recycling Forum 2016 commenced with a most convivial and well-attended Welcome Reception sponsored by LKAB Minerals. Darren Wilson, Chief Operating Officer of LKAB Minerals, warmly welcomed delegates, underlining the importance of this growing sector and LKAB’s commitment to the development of secondary raw materials (the company recently opened a mineral recycling plant in Moerdijk).

During the Forum, thirteen presentations from experts covered a wide range of topics including: industrial mineral life cycles, minerals recovery from waste, recycling refractories, laser-based sorting technology, secondary raw materials from steelmaking, alumina from aluminium salt slag, recycling red mud, cenospheres from fly ash, silica fume sourcing and markets, and phosphorus from waste water.

Here we review just some of the Forum’s highlights.

A reality rain check

Following an introductory presentation by Mike O’Driscoll setting mineral recycling in the context of the industrial minerals supply chain, Didier Jans, Director General, IMA-Europe, presented “Life cycle of industrial minerals: an industrial perspective”.

Jans reminded how “industrial minerals are at the basis of manufacturing industry”, providing examples of industrial mineral content in products such as glass, 100%, paper, 50%, paint, 50%, and automobiles, 100-150kg/car.

With a welter of pan-European recycling initiatives and legislation on the go, Jans suggested a “reality rain check” was in order between the European Commission and the industry for the future of recycling.

Core to understanding what makes sense, is an appreciation that there are simple and complex cases in the value chain. Jans illustrated this with reference to the life cycles of the aluminium can, paper, and glass.

He concluded with a review of drivers and limits prolonging the life of minerals, and that there is no one-fits-all recipe for value chains.

Didier Jans, Secretary General, IMA-Europe makes a point during the panel session, with Nenad Tanasic, Managing Director (left) and Mike O’Driscoll, Director, IMFORMED (right).

All materials are equal: no “secondary” stigma

Nenad Tanasic, Managing Director, Mineralmahlwerk Westerwald Horn GmbH & Co KG, directly got into the philosophy of mineral recycling by declaring that we should not brand such products as “secondary raw materials” at all.

In his presentation “Minerals recovery and secondary raw materials”, Tanasic considered we should steer clear of labelling raw materials as “Primary” or “Secondary”, and instead have them branded as “v-type” (virgin raw materials) or “r-type” (raw materials based on used products being recycled).

“There should be no ‘secondary’ raw materials: only virgin and recycled raw materials”, Nenad Tanasic, Managing Director, Mineralmahlwerk Westewald Horn GmbH.

In doing so, the still widely perceived stigma of a used product somehow having a lesser value would be minimised. This was generally received as a commendable move to rightly portray the value of such products. However, during the subsequent discussion, more than one delegate commented that end users testing the material would still require details of the material’s original source.

Tanasic also explained about “downcycling” of recycled materials used in low cost applications, far away from their original use, and “upcycling” of recycled materials used in higher value applications, and even possessing properties absent from v-type raw materials.

The various steps in recycling refractory break-outs were described and Tanasic said: “The big problem in the future [for refractory producers] is that v-type material is declining in quality while rising in price.”

Tanasic also hit on the nub of the recycling business, or the “Actual Challenge” as he described it, ie. the management by the recycling company of the balance between continuous and discontinuous flows of waste material against supply of recycled material flow to end users. He ventured influencing factors on how the latter may shrink while the former grew.

Suggested opportunities for the future include the offering to end users of r- or v- type materials on an equal basis; the development by end users of products incorporating r-type materials, thus enhancing their future recyclability; increasing responsibilities of the recycling companies; and linking the material flows and the parties involved at each stage to co-operate.

Recycling refractories

Melvyn Bradley, Technical Director, LKAB Minerals, presented the first of four presentations focused on a major source of recycled minerals, waste refractories.

In his presentation “Recycling of spent refractories” Bradley related that there has been a significant increase in usage of recycled refractories over the last ten years, initially driven by environmental considerations and the escalating cost of virgin refractory raw materials. But he also noted that locally sourced recycled material and price stability have also fuelled growth.

Several EU regulatory frameworks, such as EU Waste Shipment Regulations, EU Waste Framework Directive, and REACh were highlighted as requiring more work on definitions to give clarity for the recycling sector.

Bradley summarised LKAB Minerals’ Circle of Life concept: to avoid “spot lots” of secondary raw materials and establish a sustainable operation and develop strategic partnerships. The company’s new Moerdijk plant has 12,000m2 dedicated to recycling.

Spent refractory processing and applications were outlined, as well as LKAB’s recent standardisation of recycled refractory materials into magnesia- and alumina-based products.

Bradley concluded: “The market for recycled materials will continue to grow, while strategic partnerships are critical to maintain the supply chain.” He also added that a strong focus is required to improve sorting techniques.

Werner Odreitz, Purchasing Director, Secondary Raw Materials, RHI AG, delivered his presentation “Recycling refractories from an end user’s viewpoint” with a passion customary to someone devoted to the business for the last 15 years.

He suggested that about 7% of world refractories consumed were recycled for secondary raw materials (SRM), amounting to about 1.6m tonnes.

Werner Odreitz concluded: “It is easy to send spent refractories to landfill, but rising taxes along with environmental fees and increased pressure on our natural resources will leave us with no option but to utilise this vital secondary raw material.”

Refractory markets using RHI’s refractory SRM – at about 100,000 tpa in total – were steel, 79%, cement/lime, 10%, nonferrous metals, 4%, glass, 4%, and others 3%.

Odreitz highlighted the motives and effects of recycling refractories before examining the yield of different refractory materials for recycling from a range of markets and furnace types.

He also underlined the challenge of separating and sorting refractory breakout material whose recyclable yield can be influenced by the type of steel made, and the presence of nozzles, fines, hydrated brick, high alumina castable, and bricks stuck together.

Processing companies have become increasingly important and closer co-operation between the production plant, the processor, and the supplier is necessary to increase the consumption rate of secondary raw materials.

To one of the key areas of technical advancement in mineral recycling: laser-based sorting. Christian Bohling, CEO, Secopta GmbH, explained all in his talk “Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) in recycling of refractory material outbreak”.

The basics and advantages of using fully automated LIBS in recycling were outlined, described as “universal”, “flexible”, “fast”, and “straightforward”.

Walther van Oers, Managing Director, Mineralen Kollee, debates an aspect of LIBS technology; there was discussion over the merits of hand-sorting versus automated laser sorting.

Bohling went on to describe using LIBS in refractory recycling, acknowledging challenges in refractories such as heterogeneous structure, many different matrices, and “difficult” conditions, but also offering solutions in LIBS and showing how it can analyse a wide range of materials.

The refractories recycling session concluded with a fine example of material recycling in practice at one of the world’s leading stainless steelmakers, Acciai Speciali Terni, as described by Marc Faverjon, Sales Engineer, Defref SpA in “The circular economy concept at a stainless steel plant: a secondary raw material source of minerals.”

Deref and AST have worked together on a project aimed at no landfill disposal of waste material coming from refractory breakouts, decreased consumption of lime in steel production, metal recovery, and overall sustainability.

The project started in January 2013, and came to fruition in February 2014; in 2015 almost 19,000 tonnes of refractory material was reprocessed from EAF, ladles, and AOD vessels, as well as 1,330 tonnes of steel.

Recovered magnesia and dolomite was reused by AST in slag conditioning, saving an estimated 15,300 tpa of lime consumption, with recovered alumina sold to external outlets.

Refractories trends at MagForum 2016, 9-11 May 2016, Vienna

Keynote discussion panel: Status & outlook for magnesia markets
Refractory market drivers outlook for magnesia Ted Dickson, TAK Consultancy, UK
High purity magnesia raw materials for refractories Sonja Larissegger, Technical Marketing Manager, RHI AG, Austria
Fused magnesia trends and global outlook Asım Bilge, Production Engineer, DBM & FM Production Dept., Kümaş Manyezit San. AŞ, Turkey

Secondary alumina from salt slag

Howard Epstein, Technical Consultant, RVA, presented “Recycled alumina from aluminium salt slag: origins & applications”, explaining the source, nature, market applications and drivers of this recovered alumina product.

RVA essentially processes the salt slag generated from secondary aluminium processing from aluminium scrap, yielding a “secondary” alumina which can be used in non-metallurgical alumina markets.

Approximately one tonne of secondary aluminium produced yields 550kg salt slag, which can yield 300kg of secondary alumina. Potential world production of secondary alumina is about 3.1m tpa.

Epstein outlined key drivers of this recycling loop as including environmental regulations that prohibit landfilling of aluminium salt slag, and lower production costs compared to primary alumina production.

RVA’s product, called Valoxy, contains 67% alumina, and has current and potential use in cement, insulation products, stainless steel slag stabilisation, fire resistant geopolymers, and calcium aluminate steel refining powders.

Epstein highlighted Valoxy use in cement production and as a substitute for borax in stabilising AOD steel slags.

Melvyn Bradley, Technical Director, LKAB Minerals, addresses the audience on recycling refractories.

Red mud source for mineral wool & cement

In “Valorisation of bauxite residue (red mud): in pursuit of a technologically realistic and financially viable process”, Dr Yiannis Pontikes, Senior Researcher, Sustainable Metals Processing & Recycling, KU Leuven, described the progress made over the last decade in red mud processing.

He highlighted the success story of Aluminium de Grece in installing high pressure filter presses to produce a semi-dry product, “Ferro-alumina”, which has since been used in cement, mineral wool, and many other applications.

Pontikes described some of the ongoing research into red mud market applications, and said: “The message to take home is that there is work being done and that reality is region/plant specific.”

The Mud2Metal project was described, showing how rare earth elements can be recovered and from the resulting alumina slag, mineral fibres, aluminate cements, and geopolymers can be processed.

Laser based analysis of slag

Continuing the theme of slags, their analysis using laser-based inline systems was described by Dr Cord Fricke-Begemann, Group Manager, Materials Analysis, Fraunhofer-Institut für Laser Technik ILT in “Laser-based inline analysis of slags and refractories.”

LIBS analysis of liquid slag. Courtesy Dr Cord Fricke-Begemann

The different categories of slags, their sources, and market applications were described. Fricke-Begemann noted: “Their classification as ‘by-product’ or ‘waste’ is not uniform throughout the EU.” This has important implications for their handling and recycling.

The slag chemistry is all-important and dictates its value and potential uses. Inline analysis of liquid slag at voestalpine Stahl Linz was described using LIBS. The challenges in non-destructive identification and sorting of refractories in the REFRASORT project were also described.

Fricke-Begemann concluded: “Inline laser analysis of minerals enables high-grade recycling, and such innovative laser approaches open up new perspectives for the minerals industry.”

Cenospheres from fly ash

One of the well-established SRM over the years has been fly ash. Erwin Grossman, Head of Sales, Mine Feuerfest GmbH, presented “Cenospheres: an overview of their extraction and markets”.

About 97-98% of fly ash from coal-fired power stations is waste, and some 2-3% of fly ash is round and hollow, called cenospheres. Grossman said: “Fly ash quality is directly linked to the coal used. Lower coal quality leads to lower quality fly ash, and consequently, lower quality of cenospheres.”

Grossman explained the different types of cenospheres – grey and white – and how they are traditionally harvested from lagoons.

However, he outlined some disadvantages in this method, such as: contamination through “natural materials”, no control in sinker parts, freezing in winter leads to disruptions in production and supply, and only up to 20% of cenospheres are collected.

In response to this, Mine Feuerfest’s partner, Eko Export, Poland, has built a unique and new production facility to recover and produce white cenospheres in Astana, Kazakhstan. The new 36,000 tpa plant is integrated with its supply source, allowing collection of cenospheres direct from the power plant through a pipeline plug-in.

Silica fume: the fusion by-product

In “Silica fume and its market applications” Dirk Auge, Trader, Cofermin Rohstoffe GmbH & Co. KG, took the audience through the various sources, properties, and applications of silica fume.

Silica fume is a by-product in the carbothermic reduction of high-purity quartz with carbonaceous materials like coal, coke, wood-chips, in electric arc furnaces in the production of silicon, ferrosilicon alloys and fused zirconia.

Silica fume comprises spherical particles less than 1 μm in diameter, and of key significance for market applications, possesses a surface area of approximately 15,000-30,000 m²/kg.

Of particular interest was the story related of RW Silicium, essentially treating silica fume as a waste product many years ago and landfilling a site with the material. Through working with mineral processor KTS-Karlicher Ton-und Schamottewerke Mannheim & Co. KG, Cofermin has been exploiting the former RW Silicium silica fume “deposit” for a range of applications.

Heady times: delegates take a breather by walking (and braving) the veranda of the conference room, on the Inntel Hotel’s top floor, providing a spectacular view of Rotterdam.

An alternative source of phosphorus for fertiliser

Phosphate rock is not the only source of the vital fertiliser ingredient phosphorus. In “Bridging the gap between nutrient recovery and recycling”, Dr Christian Kabbe, Project Manager, Kompetenzzentrum Wasser Berlin, showed how wastewater and sewage sludge is a relevant and renewable phosphorus resource in a circular economy.

Kabbe explained the hot spots for phosphorus recovery from municipal wastewater, and the status of recovery and recycling options of sewage. Some 11m tpa of dry solids waste are recycled to the EU28 agricultural market, of which 40% is from sewage sludge.

Kabbe concluded with a range of future needs, including sound and real monitoring based data on relevant waste streams (and nutrient species), and a level playing field for both primary and recycled nutrients (legal and economic). “Nutrient recycling is complex and needs multi-sectoral co-operation.” said Kabbe.

IMFORMED is delighted with the success and positive feedback from delegates on Mineral Recycling Forum 2016, and is already looking forward to planning Mineral Recycling Forum 2017 with delegates’ comments and suggestions in mind.

Indeed, we have already begun taking bookings for sponsorships and exhibits, and offers of presentations have been accepted. Please do not hesitate to contact Ismene Clarke for the former, and Mike O’Driscoll for the latter.

A special thank you again to all of our speakers, sponsors, exhibitors, and attendees for making the event such a success. We hope to see you again soon.

And the lucky winner is….Henning Knapp, Research Assistant, RWTH Aachen University. Congratulations! Henning received his draw prize from Ismene Clarke, Director, IMFORMED.

For more pictures of Mineral Recycling Forum 2016 please go to Gallery

Missed attending Mineral Recycling Forum 2016?

For programme, attendees, pictures, and feedback please go to Past Forums.

A set of presentations (as PDF) maybe purchased: Price £500 – please contact:

Ismene Clarke, T: +44 (0)208 224 0425; M: +44 (0)7905 771 494; E: ismene@imformed.com

Make sure you don’t miss out! Register now!

Mineral Logistics Forum 2016 11-13 April 2016, Rotterdam

MagForum 2016 9-11 May 2016, Vienna

Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Houston 2016, 5-7 June 2016, Houston

Outside China, production of fused magnesia has usually been in the hands of the few, and those that at least can negotiate half-decent electricity rates – fused industrial minerals are not known as “crystallised electricity” for nothing.

It seems that junior magnesite developers now want in on the fused action as well.

“Crystallised electricity”: fused magnesia production is highly energy intensive, using electric arc furnaces at 3,000degC; most is consumed in refractories, electrical grade in ceramic insulators is a niche market with few suppliers.

Just last month, WHY Resources Ltd, which is evaluating its Record Ridge South Property, near Rossland, south-east British Columbia, announced its Preliminary Economic Assessment as “presuming a conventional open pit mine, a novel hydrometallurgical processing plant, a calcined magnesia intermediate product plant, along with a fused magnesia production plant.” Perhaps the question is in the company name.

Another developer eyeing the possibility of fused magnesia as a “high-tech magnesia product” is MGX Minerals Inc., developing its Driftwood Creek Magnesium Property, also in British Columbia.

In Western Australia, Korab Resources Ltd recently announced that its subsidiary AusMag Pty Ltd had struck a A$6m investment deal with a Chinese investor, “who represents interests associated with the Chinese steel industry”, to help develop its 500,000 tpa raw magnesite project at Winchester, Northern Territory.

Among the project’s objectives is the potential construction of plants to produce caustic calcined, dead burned, and fused magnesia.

Making the grade

Certainly, with any industrial mineral project development, it’s always worth checking out the options on the project yielding the highest possible quality grades which (usually) command the top prices. This also looks good on the promotion material for investor and potential offtake interest.

But with industrial minerals, and especially magnesite, it’s not always that easy to simply build and switch on a high grade plant and watch the dollars roll in – just ask Baymag, Sibelco (Qmag), and RHI for example. And those companies have been eating and breathing magnesite for decades.

Baymag, which mines magnesite in Radium Hot Springs, British Columbia, commissioned its state-of-the-art Exshaw, Alberta 14,000 tpa fused magnesia plant in 1989. However, owing to lack of market demand, it has been mothballed for most of its life.

In 2011, leading refractory and magnesia producer RHI AG, Austria, took what was considered to be fair at the time, an enlightened step to reduce its dependence on inconsistently priced and supplied Chinese fused magnesia. RHI built perhaps the world’s single largest fused magnesia plant (85,000 tpa) in Porsgrunn, Norway, fed by an acquired local dolomite-sourced caustic calcined magnesia producer.

The €75m plant opened in late 2012. However, a year on and production was reduced to around 35,000 tpa owing to energy costs and technical issues, which have since been addressed. With the dramatic drop in Chinese fused magnesia prices during 2015, this has further compounded the plant’s position.

In its 2015 results just released, RHI acknowledged that the situation “required a complete write-down of assets amounting to roughly €23m for the plant in Porsgrunn.” But should the market recover, and Chinese fused magnesia prices rise (as has happened in the past), then RHI will be safe in the knowledge of not being dependent on Chinese imports.

Elsewhere, it seems that fused magnesia has retained its flavour for certain established producers, although these most likely represent the fruition and delayed passage of projects initiated some years earlier: Magnezit is pressing ahead with its impressive 50,000 tpa fused magnesia expansion by 2020 at Razdolinsk, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Siberia; in 2015 Kumas’ fused magnesia capacity increased to 40,000 tpa at Kutahya, Turkey; also in 2015, Iranian Refractories Procurement & Production Company (IRPPCO) brought on stream its first fused magnesia plant at Birjand with a 5,000 tpa capacity.

So does it work for some, but not others? Or is it a matter of market timing?

It is notable, that with the exception of IRPPCO, Magnezit and Kumas are major integrated producers of refractory products; as is RHI, and Baymag is owned by refractory leader Refratechnik.

In fact, the majority of world refractory grade fused magnesia capacity outside China is captive to integrated refractory producers, with the exception of Sibelco in Australia, and Industrias Penoles SA de CV, in Mexico.

Banging the world magnesia market drum: Chinese fused magnesia has always influenced world prices and production; here fusing magnesia and hand sorting core break-up in Dashiqiao, Liaoning, China.

Market awareness

Junior developers should heed the warnings of those experienced players that have trodden the fused magnesia path before them.

Special attention must be given to understanding and appreciating not only the technical aspects of the fusion process and its demands on materials and energy, but the structure, demands, and vagaries of a market dominated by refractories for the steel industry, and above all, fused (and other) magnesia supply and demand from China.

How to do this in a cost-effective and concise manner? By attending MagForum 2016, 9-11 May 2016, Vienna.

Our 2-day conference is all about supply/demand trends and outlook for magnesium minerals and markets (see Programme).

The status and outlook for the magnesia market will be discussed by a Keynote panel including senior management from RHI, Magnesita, Grecian Magnesite, and Refratechnik, followed by experts reviewing supply sources and refractory and non-refractory markets for magnesia.

In the context of fused magnesia and new projects, we specifically have:

What it takes to bring a successful magnesite project to market
Paul Rix, Director, Archer Exploration Ltd, Australia
Fused magnesia trends and global outlook
Asım Bilge, Production Engineer, DBM & FM Production Dept., Kümaş Manyezit San. AŞ, Turkey
Refractory market drivers outlook for magnesia
Ted Dickson, TAK Consultancy, UK

There is also the opportunity to visit a state of the art magnesia refractory plant first hand by joining our Field Trip to RHI’s plant at Veitsch on the day preceding the conference.

Register now for the only conference you’ll need to attend if you’re in the magnesia business.

Contact Ismene: +44 (0)7905 771 494 | ismene@imformed.com

Mineral Logistics Forum 2016 Review

Understanding the logistics aspects of mineral supply chains is crucial to the success of any operation and project.

Those attending Mineral Logistics Forum 2016 in Rotterdam last week were fortunate to be able to hear first hand from nine experts some of the latest trends and developments in supply chain logistics for industrial minerals.

Nice combination of different speakers covering several parts of the supply chain.
Alain Dommisse, Global Supply Chain Director, Solvay Chemicals International, Belgium

The IMFORMED Forum brings together all players in the entire industrial minerals logistics chain.
Marcel Gorris, Cluster Manager AM&R, Port of Amsterdam Authority, Netherlands

The event commenced on 11 April with a wonderful evening reception at the Royal Maas Yacht Club sponsored by the Rotterdam Port Promotion Council and the Port of Rotterdam.

Jacob van der Goot, Chairman of the Royal Maas Yacht Club and former managing director of ABN AMRO Rotterdam (below right), welcomed international delegates with a passionate address on the history of the Club, the maritime commerce pedigree of Rotterdam and its relevance to the Forum.

Van der Goot introduced Port of Rotterdam’s new Vice President Industry & Bulk Cargo Business, Yvonne van der Laan, who outlined the dry bulk business in Rotterdam and its importance for industrial minerals trade in the port.

Logistics and dry bulk shipping reviewed

The next day, proceedings got underway with an introductory presentation by Mike O’Driscoll, Director, IMFORMED, emphasising Europe’s reliance on global imports of many important industrial minerals and thus well planned logistic solutions were imperative.

By way of example he commented on the ill-fated Seqi olivine development in Greenland during its bold but brief five-year life.

The current woes and outlook of the shipping market were comprehensively examined in “Dry bulk shipping market trends and outlook” by Marc Pauchet, Senior Analyst, Braemar ACM Shipbroking.

“A shipping market under stress” Marc Pauchet, Senior Analyst, Braemar ACM Shipbroking.

He described a shipping market under stress with all time lows of spot rates, which, in his opinion, will probably continue for at least three years.

Pauchet reviewed freight rates, the share of minerals within the dry bulk market, how owners, China, and India have influenced the market, as well as a look at the individual ship sizes, key dry bulk commodities, growth trends, and China’s the new “silk road”.

Future trends with logistics implications

In “Overview of the importance of industrial mineral logistics”, Ulrich Koester, Managing Owner, Maritime Tecnet GmbH, identified trends in the development of industrial minerals trade which will require logistical support.

These included: minerals recycling and urban mining; Turkish producers targeting Europe; new mineral processing plants in the Middle East; new projects in Canada; and the influence of the dollar and euro on trade strategies and capital investors.

Ulrich Koester, Managing Owner, Maritime Tecnet GmbH, brought into question the traditional role of the distributor

Koester also brought into question the traditional role of the distributor and suggested his “Mineral Cube” – a modular building block system that meets all requirements of suppliers or buyers of industrial minerals. Logistics is just one component of a complete and customised solution for our customers.

Similarly, Albrecht von Kempis, Managing Director, VonKempisResources GmbH, also extolled on some macro trends in “New trends for industrial mineral applications and specifications.” He said “Applications and specifications are part of the mineral supply chain”.

Von Kempis reviewed mining trends over the last two centuries before highlighting the current and future impacts of digitisation, urbanisation, individualisation, ecology, globalisation and mobility.

From ship to storage

Claus Ohlmeyer, Dep. Mgr. Business Unit Building Products & Minerals, Haver & Boecker OHG, kept the attention of the audience with several educational videos in “From ship to storage: evaluating the full chain of minerals handling.”

Claus Ohlmeyer, Dep. Mgr. Business Unit Building Products & Minerals, Haver & Boecker OHG, provided an excellent review of a range of ship unloading systems.

Ohlmeyer provided an excellent review of a range of ship unloading systems, storage and mixing solutions, and bagging and dispatch options for industrial minerals.

Of interest were his comments on various storage silos, including a central cone silo which could store several different products.

Vienna: Europe’s inland logistics hub

Moving into the hinterland of Europe, Friedrich Lehr, Managing Director, Wiener Hafen Management GmbH outlined the functions and benefits of Vienna in “Vienna: Europe’s inland multi-mode logistics hub for minerals”.

Vienna “a pulsating logistics interface in central Europe”, Friedrich Lehr, Managing Director, Wiener Hafen Management GmbH

Described as “a pulsating logistics interface in central Europe”, Lehr highlighted the facts and figures for Hafen Wien including its handling of 8m tonnes of goods transhipment, and 480,000 TEU in its container port.

The port has 600,000 TEU transshipment capacity, 70,000 m² warehousing and open-air storage, and a crane for transshipping up to 84 tonnes. Lehr underlined Vienna’s location at the heart of Europe including direct waterway to Asia‘s growing markets.

Papermaking minerals

In “Imerys bulk shipping”, Joost van Moorsel, Senior Logistics Manager, Imerys (below) explained that although Imerys’ overall overseas logistic chains are dominated by packed, containerised shipments, bulk shipping is significant for two key minerals, kaolin and ground calcium carbonate (GCC), especially for the paper industry.

This trade represents about 2.7m tpa of contracted bulk ocean freight shipments for Imerys, and is dominated by kaolin accounting for about 77% of the shipments.

The Eurohub in Antwerp, Belgium is the central facility for Imerys’ European bulk logistics for kaolin and GCC, mostly sourced from the Americas, although some kaolin is shipped from the UK, and GCC from Greece and Turkey.

Van Moorsel concluded by raising some concerns for the future including a lack of innovative approach by suppliers, mainly in shipping and rail; congestion in South American discharging ports; introduction of road taxes in European countries; and availability of qualified staff in some regions.

Ilari Valkeinen, Vice President Purchasing, Stora Enso (below) delivered an entertainingly frank presentation “Minerals in Paper” highlighting Stora Enso, the paper industry, logistics at Stora Enso, challenges, which pigments are used and why, and a take on the future.

Valkeinen said: “I want to underline co-destiny, in competitive bulk-business markets with our suppliers and sub-suppliers – not forgetting the role of end customers, you, as individuals and decision makers.”

Regarding outbound logistics, Stora Enso handles some 15m tpa in trucks, and 6m tpa in Ro-Ro ships and containers; inbound logistics, including minerals, account for about 2m tpa in Lolo or slurry boats and silo trucks.

Valkeinen could not help but illustrate the irony, and importance of logistics, of transporting minerals from the “middle of nowhere” (eg. Brazilian kaolin mines) to a paper plant, also in the “middle of nowhere” (rural Scandinavia).

Stora Enso consumes just under 2m tpa of GCC, PCC, kaolin, lime, talc, and bentonite sourced from Europe and North and South America.

In conclusion, Valkeinen said: “Logistics and quality in logistics plays an important role in the direct and possible indirect cost of minerals.”

Borates from USA to Europe

In “Borates supply to Europe: logistics considerations”, Miguel Galindo, General Manager Sales & Supply Chain EMEA, Rio Tinto Minerals (below), provided an overview on RTM’s global supply chain and footprint, product handling characteristics, the borate supply chain to Europe, current market demands on supply chain from customers, suppliers, shareholders and society, concluding with RTM’s strategic answer: the SIOP process.

RTM supplies about one third of the global market for refined borates under the 20 Mule Team Borax brand from one mine in California, which produces about 1m tpa. The company has processing and shipping facilities in California, China, Malaysia, France, Spain, and the Netherlands.

Galindo explained RTM’s borates supply chain to Europe, representing about 150,000 tpa, from the mine at Boron, California by train to the port at Wilmington on the West Coast, then shipped south to the Panama Canal, and then across the Atlantic to Rotterdam, and also Castellon, Spain.

Galindo said: “Supply chain delivery is an integral part of RTM Value Proposition to its customers. Demands on working capital, lean processes, and greater efficiency will continue to increase, so will the demand for information and transparency to all stakeholders involved.”

Riding the wave

Immediately following the Forum, delegates were invited to enjoy a thoroughly invigorating fast RIB ride down the River Maas, courtesy of Ssp, which as well as being highly entertaining was also instructive in showing off the vast size of the Rotterdam port area and its facilities.

Delegates were able to relax later with a comforting drink at the Finale Drinks Reception, also courtesy Ssp.

Field Trip: Rotterdam Bulk Terminal, European Bulk Services

The day after the Forum, delegates were able to fully appreciate first hand some of the aspects highlighted in the presentations by visiting the mineral terminals of Rotterdam Bulk Terminal and European Bulk Services in the port of Rotterdam.

IMFORMED is delighted with the success and positive feedback from delegates on Mineral Logistics Forum 2016, and is already looking forward to planning Mineral Logistics Forum 2017 with delegates’ comments and suggestions in mind.

Indeed, we have already begun taking bookings for sponsorships and exhibits, and offers of presentations have been accepted. Please do not hesitate to contact Ismene Clarke for the former, and Mike O’Driscoll for the latter.

Ensure you don’t miss out on news and updates for Mineral Logistics Forum 2017

A special thank you again to all of our speakers, sponsors, exhibitors, Field Trip hosts, and attendees for making the event such a success. We hope to see you again soon.

For more pictures of Mineral Logistics Forum 2016 please go to Gallery

Missed attending Mineral Logistics Forum 2016?

For programme, attendees, pictures, and feedback please go to Past Forums.

A set of presentations (as PDF) maybe purchased: Price £500 – please contact:

Ismene Clarke, T: +44 (0)208 224 0425; M: +44 (0)7905 771 494; E: ismene@imformed.com

Make sure you don’t miss out! Register now!

MagForum 2016 9-11 May 2016, Vienna

Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Houston 2016, 5-7 June 2016, Houston

Halliburton idles Nevada plant; starts new source in Kazakhstan

It’s been a busy month for the barite sector, despite the prevailing dark clouds of the oilfield industry.

Halliburton’s Q1 2016 operational update last Friday made bleak reading and their executives were pulling no punches.

“Life has changed in the energy industry, especially in North America” said Dave Lesar, Chairman and CEO.

“There is no doubt this is one of the most challenging markets the industry has ever experienced, as we face a more than 30% decline in global drilling and completion spend for the second straight year. Further, we expect to see an additional 50% decline in North America spend in 2016, following last year’s 40% decline.” said Jeff Miller, President.

Barite from the Bestobe deposit, central Kazakhstan; feedstock source for Halliburton’s new 100,000 tpa plant j-v to supply Central Asia oilfields. Courtesy Global Chemical Industries

These statements, combined with the backdrop of the beleaguered acquisition bid for Baker Hughes by Halliburton – facing as it does opposition from the US Justice Dept. and the EC – frankly underline the dire state of the oilfield industry for suppliers.

Drilling activity and thus demand for drilling minerals such as barite and bentonite is suffering: but is the end in sight? From the peak in the fourth quarter of 2014 (1931 September 2014), the US oil and gas rig count has declined by almost 80%, setting a new record low (431 on 25 April 2016; was 932 same day 2015).

Learn first hand from the major players how oilfield mineral demand is to play out

Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Houston 2016, 5-7 June 2016

Oilfield mineral consumption trends
Chris Bosch, Senior Category Manager of Mined Products, Halliburton Baroid, USA

Drilling and drilling fluid developments
Brian Teutsch, Product Line Director, Drilling & Completion Fluids, Baker Hughes Inc., USA

Early Bird Registration Rates saving €300 until Monday 2 May 2016.

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Dunphy plant idled

Halliburton nevertheless believes “we will see the landing point for the US rig count during the second quarter of 2016.”, according to Miller.

Well that cannot come soon enough for barite suppliers. However, it is already too late for Halliburton’s own recently built 600,000 tpa state-of-the-art barite plant in Dunphy, Nevada operated by its Baroid Drilling Fluids division.

In late 2015, it was understood that Baroid’s Rossi Mine, about 48km from Dunphy, was idled, and this has now been followed by the closure of the Dunphy plant in early April 2016.

Completed in 2014, the plant probably represents the world’s largest barytes processing plant.

Baroid’s recently built 600,000 tpa plant at Dunphy, Nevada, idled in April 2016. Courtesy The Mouat Co. Inc.

The two 85-inch Williams Crusher Mill Systems capable of producing 50 tph. Courtesy The Mouat Co. Inc.

The plant consists of two 85-inch Williams Crusher Mill Systems, capable of producing 50 tph. Additionally, there is an innovative, automated packaging system capable of packaging approximately 800 tpd of bagged material.

Halliburton’s much reduced barite consumption for the time being is likely to be met by blending imports of barite with Nevada stock. Baroid operates other barite plants at Corpus Christi and LaRose, Texas, and at Lake Charles, Louisiana.

On balance, until 2015, perhaps around 20% of Halliburton’s North American barite demand was met by barite sourced from Nevada. Import sources have included China, India, Morocco, and Mexico.

Halliburton barite j-v opens in Kazakhstan

Of course Halliburton serves oilfield markets beyond North America, which have not been hit as badly.

“The international markets continue to hold up better than North America, but they are certainly not immune to the macro challenges.” said Miller.

Perhaps reflecting the international oilfields’ more robust standing, Halliburton has started up its barite mine and processing plant joint venture in Karazhal, about 160km south of Astana, in the Karaganda region of central Kazakhstan.

Halliburton has for some time been developing a j-v with Global Chemicals Industries, involved in barite supply to the Central Asia region since 2011.

The KZT4.5bn(US$13.3m) plant, operated by subsidiary Karazhal Operating, has a processing capacity of 100,000 tpa 4.2 SG barite, with provision to double capacity if required.

The plant was designed and built by The Mouat Co. Inc., shipped in 15 modules and includes a 64-inch fluid bed roller mill system.

The new plant at Karazhal includes a 64-inch fluid bed roller mill system. Courtesy The Mouat Co. Inc.

The Bestobe deposit is expected to yield over 10m tonnes of barite ore. Courtesy Global Chemical Industries

Kazakhstan holds about 11% of the global barite reserves, but previously represented only 1.4% of barite production. The Karazhal mine is exploiting the Bestobe deposit by open pit which is expected to yield over 10m tonnes of barite ore.

About 70% of barite produced at Karazhal will be exported to Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, and also to North Sea oilfields in Norway and Denmark.

The remaining 30% will supply the domestic market, to such companies as Halliburton, Karachaganak Petroleum Operating BV, Tengizchevroil, CNPC, and others.

APMDC barite tender grinds into action

Elsewhere, in India, Andhra Pradesh Mining Development Corp. (APMDC) has finally initiated its delayed tender to sell 4.2 SG and 4.1 SG barite in two tranches.

On 11 April 2016, APMDC announced its intention to tender the sale of 600,000 tonnes of 4.20 SG barite (A Grade) and 200,000 tonnes of 4.10 SG barite (B Grade) on Ex-Mangampet barite mine/stockyard basis for export and/or captive consumption for oil well drilling in India or overseas for buyers registered in India for a period of one year.

Also for sale is 150,000 tonnes of 4.20 SG barite (A Grade) and 100,000 tonnes of 4.10 SG barite (B Grade) on FOB basis to buyers registered in foreign countries for a period of one year.

APMDC’s barite mine at Mangampet, Andhra Pradesh, the largest in the world, produces about 1.6m tpa; although it is beset with flooding problems, as shown when this picture was taken in late January 2016

One of the 230 odd small-scale barite grinding plants in the vicinity of the APMDC mine, each vying for a share of the state producer’s crude ore feed.

Indian Bidders are to quote for a minimum quantity of 100,000 tonnes of 4.20 SG barite at a Reserve Price of INR5,000(US$74.8) and 40,000 tonnes of 4.10 SG barite at a Reserve Price of INR4,000(US$59.8)/t.

International bidders are to quote the FOB price for a minimum quantity of 50,000 tonnes of 4.20 SG barite and 25,000 tonnes of 4.10 SG barite.

The last date for submission of Technical Bids is 4 May 2016, announcement of the Technically Qualified Bidders 6 May 2016, and the “e-tender cum e-auction” takes place 16.00-1900 on
9 May 2016.

Hear from the Indian barite producers how they plan to supply the oilfield market

Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Houston 2016, 5-7 June 2016

The role of APMDC in the international barytes market
Ch. Venkaiah Chowdary, Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corp., India

India’s barite industry and outlook
K. Rajamohan Reddy, Managing Director, IBC Ltd, India

Early Bird Registration Rates saving €300 until Monday 2 May 2016

Contact Ismene +44 (0)7905 771 494 | ismene@imformed.com

The BIG picture for oilfield mineral demand

Have we reached the bottom of the oil price decline and tentative recovery is on the way? Perhaps.

Oil prices have consistently risen in the last few weeks and while there remains caution in the market, there are signs that perhaps the corner has been turned and there are prospects for some optimism.

Certainly that is the hope of the oilfield mineral supply sector, whose livelihood hinges on the performance of oil and gas drilling activity. This is the central theme of IMFORMED’s upcoming Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Houston 2016, 5-7 June 2016, Houston.

A range of industrial minerals perform vital functions within drilling fluids such as weighting agents (eg. barite, calcium carbonate), viscosifiers (bentonite, hectorite), pH control (lime, soda ash), lost circulation materials (diatomite, mica), and as additives in well cementing (calcium chloride, zeolite), not to mention frac sand (silica sand) and ceramic proppants (bauxite, kaolin) in hydraulic fracturing.

Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Houston 2016, 5-7 June 2016

Oilfield mineral consumption trends
Chris Bosch, Senior Category Manager of Mined Products, Halliburton Baroid, USA
Drilling and drilling fluid developments
Brian Teutsch, Product Line Director, Drilling & Completion Fluids, Baker Hughes Inc., USA

Borates in oilfield applications
David Schubert, Principal Scientist, US Borax Inc., Rio Tinto, USA
Potash and its application in oilfield drilling
Jeff Blair, Director of Potash, Intrepid Potash, USA

This industry has always been cyclical in character, and has suffered and recovered from troughs in demand for many years. However, it is expected that recovery from this particular crisis may take longer than has been the case in previous events.

“I have all the reasons to believe that in the absence of a major economic downturn we are going to see balance in the markets latest by 2017.” Fatih BirolI, Executive Director, IEA

In February 2016, the US Dept. of Energy’s EIA forecast a return to market balance in the second half of 2017.

In April 2016, the IEA favoured a more optimistic view with oil markets and prices expected to rebalance at the turn of this year, or by 2017 at the latest.

Long term oil and gas demand

However long the road to recovery on this occasion (with the price level attainment of $50-55/bbl recognised to be the trigger for most drilling operations to resume economically), global demand for energy, and in particular oil and gas, appears to be well assured at least until 2035-40.

BP’s Energy Outlook to 2035, released in February 2016, among other issues underlined the world’s increasing energy demand to keep up with GDP growth, a rise of 34% by 2035.

Crucially, for oilfield mineral outlook, fossil fuels will remain the dominant source of energy; accounting for 60% of energy growth and almost 80% of total energy supply in 2035.

Interestingly, regarding the fuel mix gas is the fastest growing fossil fuel (1.8% p.a.), while oil grows steadily (0.9% p.a.), although the trend decline in its share continues.

In its May 2016 global energy forecast, the EIA stated that fossil fuels would continue to supply more than 75% of world energy use in 2040, and world energy consumption is projected to increase by 48% over the next three decades.

Common to most forecasts has been the increasing role played by the Asia Pacific region, particularly regarding India and China, as an increasing energy consumer.

In India, new infrastructure, an expanding middle class, and 600m. new electricity consumers will require a large rise in energy supply.

Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Houston, 5-7 June 2016

Broychim & Moroccan barite production
Imane Moudnib, Marketing Manager, Broychim, Morocco
China’s barite industry status and analysis
Bill Wang, Director & General Manager, Guizhou Sinobarite Mining Co. Ltd, China
Guizhou Gulf Co. Ltd: the new force in supplying Chinese barite
Rocky Wu, Managing Director, Grant Lee, Director, Guizhou Gulf Co. Ltd, China, and Ian Wilson, Consultant, UK
Expanding barite capacity from Guizhou Saboman
Rita Hu, General Manager, Guizhou Saboman Imp. & Exp. Co. Ltd, China
The role of APMDC in the international barite market
Ch. Venkaiah Chowdary, Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corp., India
India’s barite industry and outlook
K. Rajamohan Reddy, Managing Director, IBC Ltd, India
Developments in barite beneficiation
Steve Gray, Consultant, ST Equipment & Technologies LLC, USA

Shale gas supply growth outside N. America

Of significance for the proppant supply market, is not only the forecast global increase in supply and demand for gas, and especially in China, but the increasing share of natural gas that will be supplied by shale gas.

The BP Outlook estimates a 5.6% growth in shale gas to 2035, representing nearly 25% of total global gas supply. Global trading in LNG is to rise to 15% of total gas trade, and 40% of this increase is expected in just the next five years.

While US shale gas output is expected to grow about 4% p.a. and dominate the industry with a two thirds share, of great interest is the projection of shale gas output expansion outside North America.

BP suggests that by 2025-35 around half of the increase in shale gas supplies will come from outside North America, with Asia Pacific accounting for >10% of global shale gas production by 2035.

BP appears quite bullish about China’s contribution to this, where shale gas production is expected to reach 13 Bcf/d by 2035, stating that “By 2035, China will be the largest contributor to growth in shale gas production.”

In March 2016, BP and China National Petroleum Corp. signed a production sharing contract for shale gas exploration, development and production in the Neijiang-Dazu block in the Sichuan Basin, China.

Declining costs to drill shale gas wells and continued investment in domestic production has allowed China to increase its shale gas development.

Certainly, China has abundant bauxite-based (and some kaolin-based) ceramic proppant supply capacity, and should shale gas take off in China, then perhaps the low cost ceramic proppant exports from China to overseas markets (especially the USA) may weaken as domestic demand rises.

This may provide a window of opportunity in the future for proppant developers outside China. These could include Ashapura International Ltd, whose new 60,000 tpa ceramic proppant plant in Kutch, Gujarat, India was expected to start commercial production at the end of April 2016.

Also eyeing the prospect of shale gas development in India is Australian LWP Technologies Ltd’s 60:40 joint venture with Hallmark Minerals Pvt Ltd.

Hallmark has a 12,000 tpa bauxite ceramic proppant plant in Pune, Maharashtra, India, which LWP is looking to convert to using its developed fly ash ceramic proppant technology and produce 20,000 tpa.

Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Houston 2016, 5-7 June 2016

Developments in proppant selection for hydraulic fracturing
Pickard Trepess, Managing Director, FracPT FZE, Dubai
Manufacturing ceramic proppant during the downturn
Jim Flowers, VP Sales, Marketing and Innovation, Imerys, USA
New generation ceramic proppants
Dr David Henson, President, LWP Technologies LLC, USA
Ceramic proppant manufacturing
Joe Roettle, Global Sales Manager, Ecutec Barcelona SL/M-I SWACO, Spain

Middle East proppant prospects

Not to be overlooked are shale gas prospects in North Africa and the Middle East, and in particular Algeria and Saudi Arabia. Oman and Saudi Arabia are key growth markets, and are expected to account for nearly 67% of MENA fracturing capacity in 2018.

Saudi Aramco has embarked on a US$10bn shale programme since 2013, driven by a quest for gas to replace oil for high electricity demand, and is focusing on three main shale gas plays in Saudi Arabia: Qusaibia Hot Shale, Tuwaiq Mountain, Ghawar, and Jafurah Basin, Ghawar.

Aramco is presently investigating technologies to overcome the challenges involved with hydraulic fracturing in the desert, and experimenting with local silica sand and researching water management (one of the key issues in fracking operations for MENA and China).

There are no ceramic proppant producers in the region, and although the country has abundant silica sand resources, the strength of the sand is insufficient to withstand closure stress in most of the gas reservoirs. (ie. in deep formations with closure stress greater than 10,000 psi).

Reported in Journal of Petroleum Technology, January 2016, a short-term solution for Aramco is to integrate the local sand in a pillar fracturing technique. The pillar fracturing creates aggregated and competent sand piles. Among the sand piles are open channels to allow hydrocarbons to flow freely into the wellbore.

A longer term solution is to develop new materials to coat the sand grains so that the actual strength of each individual sand grain is significantly increased.

Outlook

While it seems the long term demand is assured for oilfield minerals, the short term outlook is less certain.

Leaders of the main oilfield service companies are of the view that Q2 2016 will remain a challenging period, and perhaps even worsen.

However, H2 2016 may see some stabilisation, with US rig activity bottoming out mid-year but not starting any meaningful recovery until 2017.

There will also be a time lag, perhaps 3-4 months, between oil price recovery and a response in rig activity, and even longer until any serious rise in E&P spending.

This article contained a selection of slides from a recent presentation “Oilfield Market Outlook: the BIG picture for oilfield mineral demand” by Mike O’Driscoll for the Barytes Association 24th General Assembly, Girona, 12 May 2016.

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MagForum 2016 Review

Austria is host to some wonderful scenery and culture, but it is also the home of the modern magnesia industry, and thus Vienna was a most fitting venue for IMFORMED’s inaugural magnesium minerals and markets conference MagForum 2016, 9-11 May 2016.

RHI’s Weissenstein magnesite mine, Austria

Last week 130 international attendees across the entire magnesia supply chain from producers to end users gathered at the new Meliá Hotel, Vienna, to engage, learn, and enjoy three days of magnesia-infused business networking and discussion.

“Congratulations to you for the MagForum organisation which was excellent. This was a great and very informative event. Long life to MagForum.”
Erwan Gueguen, Director R&D Europe, Magnesita, Belgium

“We would like to express to you our great gratitude on being part of the this fantastic Forum in Vienna, it was well organised, great discussions, great food, and moreover great business opportunities have reached MagnesiumUSA Inc. thanks to this Forum.”
Val Tkachenko, CEO & President, MagnesiumUSA Inc., USA

“I have been involved for the last 17 years in many international forums and conferences, and I have to admit that you have raised the standards for the rest of the pack, with the success of the first MagForum.”
Michael Tsoukatos, Director of Business Development, Grecian Magnesite, Greece

By common consent MagForum 2016 delivered just what the market wanted. Here’s a taste of what was on offer.

RHI celebrates 135 years at Veitsch

Almost 80 delegates braved an early start on the Monday to take in a superbly organised visit by RHI AG to the world’s oldest magnesia refractory plant at Veitsch, Styria.

In 2016, the Veitsch plant celebrates its 135th anniversary. Carl Spaeter, a German industrialist discovered the Veitsch magnesite deposit in 1881, which went on to produce magnesia for refractories.

The original mine at Veitsch ceased in 1968 owing to the high silica content of the raw material. The plant now consumes more than 180,000 tpa of raw materials, including dead burned and fused magnesia grades mostly from RHI’s facilities but also from the Netherlands, China, and Mexico.

Happy Field Trippers after a wonderful lunch and plant tour at RHI’s Veitsch plant. Courtesy RHI

Today, the Veitsch plant is state-of-the-art equipped, many production lines are automated by use of robotics. The plant has undergone a major €18m upgrade scheduled for completion in 2016. This investment will improve productivity as well as product quality and reduce environmental impact.

The Veitsch plant employs about 250 people, has an output of about 220,000 tpa refractories (ceramic-bonded bricks, carbon-bonded bricks, and mixes) and exports to more than 100 countries, with steel and cement industries being the key customers.

Delegates returned in good time for a most convivial Welcome Reception hosted by RHI on the top floor of the Meliá Hotel, providing a wonderful view of Vienna at sunset from Austria’s tallest building.

Magnesia outlook discussed

Following an introduction to MagForum 2016 by Mike O’Driscoll, Director, IMFORMED, and a Welcome Address from Andreas Kriegl, Head of Raw Material Supply, RHI AG, Austria, proceedings got underway with a lively Keynote Discussion Panel on China, magnesia supply and markets.

The panellists were Andreas Kriegl, Head of Raw Material Supply, RHI AG, Austria; Otto Levy, Chief Operating Officer, Magnesita Refratários SA, Brazil; Michael Tsoukatos, Business Development Director, Grecian Magnesite SA, Greece; Dr Richard Flook, Managing Principal, Mosman Resources, Australia; and Dr Hans-Jürgen Klischat, Head of Research & Development/Quality Management, Refratechnik Cement GmbH, Germany.

China, magnesia supply and markets were discussed by the Keynote Panel

There was no surprise in that China dominated the first part of the discussion, with a common recognition that the domestic magnesia industry required consolidation.

Michael Tsoukatos drew attention to the impending issue of the EU granting China Market Economy Status (MES) and how it would negatively impact Europe’s magnesia industry. A public questionnaire on the issue had resulted in a majority vote against (this was followed on 12 May by the European Parliament formally voting against by an 83% majority).

Also highlighted was the need for the magnesia industry to increase its market size by developing more applications, especially in the non-refractory market sector.

It was generally considered that with the current supply overcapacity in magnesia, there was little room for new sources coming on stream in the near future. However, end users would always welcome evaluation of new and especially high quality magnesia raw materials.

While it was hoped that “Good times should follow bad times” and that market recovery was eagerly awaited, the general consensus was that this would come to fruition later than sooner, and not until 2017.

Global supply review

In “Asia-Pacific magnesia supply round-up”, presented by Dr Richard Flook, Managing Principal, Mosman Resources, and co-authored by Dr Ian Wilson, Consultant, the audience was taken on a tour of the region’s magnesia production by country after a summary of the regional economic context, somewhat dominated, as it is, by China.

Richard Flook highlighted China’s use of magnesia cement in large infrastructure projects

Regarding India’s outlook, Flook posed the question of whether the country’s forecast growth would be met by imports or domestic production of steel and refractories.

Also highlighted was China’s use of magnesia cement in large infrastructure projects and whether this could be a growth market for magnesia.

A late addition to the programme was Christopher Zhao, Chief Investment Officer, Hejun Capital, and his topical presentation “Outlook for changes in China’s magnesia export quota policy and magnesia products trade with Europe”.

Zhao examined the background of China’s economy, China’s export quota policy, magnesia trade past and future, merger trends, and the Northeast Asia Magnesia Materials Trading Center.

China has seen a vast increase in company mergers: in 2015, there were over 2,692 reorganisation issues on China’s stock market, an increase of 39.6% compared with 2014. Zhao expects mergers in the magnesia industry, including “some companies with vision are even beginning to purchase European companies.”

Christopher Zhao expected mergers in the magnesia industry

Kerry Satterthwaite, Division Manager – Carbon & Chemicals, Roskill Information Services Ltd covered production, international trade, major players, and trends in “Europe/Middle East/Africa magnesia supply round-up”.

With some interesting trade diagrams Satterthwaite demonstrated that EMEA magnesia supply is important in a number of markets worldwide.

Across the Atlantic now with “Magnesium compounds in the Americas” by E. Lee Bray, Mineral Commodity Specialist, US Geological Survey. Bray documented the producers of the Americas, highlighting the different magnesia raw material sources such as olivine, salt flats and brines, and potassium magnesium sulphate.

New & alternative sources

Despite the prevailing market conditions, there are several magnesia development projects underway, with quite a few in Australia. In “What it takes to bring a successful magnesite project to market”, Paul Rix, Director, Archer Exploration Ltd provided a reality check-list for such developers before outlining Archer Exploration’s objectives for the Leigh Creek Magnesite Project.

Paul Rix provided a reality check-list for developers.

The Leigh Creek deposit hosts 435m tonnes @ 41.4% MgO and Archer envisages mining 125,000 tpa crude ore to produce around 50,000 tpa low grade dead burned magnesia. Potential customers have been identified and the company is in advanced discussions with ABC and Arrium for toll processing.

Alternative magnesia sources were also examined. “Bischofite production in Ukraine: an alternative source of magnesium chloride” by Roland Rivera Santiago, Vice President, MagnesiumUSA Inc. outlined magnesium chloride production from Poltava, Ukraine.

The operation has a capacity of 10,000 tpm magnesium chloride brine which can be refined to high purity. Market applications include construction, foods, domestic cleaners, de-icing, solar panels, gas drilling, while research is being conducted in agriculture and human health uses.

Roland Rivera Santiago: “Poltava bischofite has been used in various ways domestically, but has had no major international presence.”

Thermolith SA has been Greece’s sole olivine producer (about 40,000 tpa) in Mount Vourinos, north-west Macedonia since 2002. Thomas Valalas, Managing Director, Thermolith SA presented “Olivine: production & market applications” and explained olivine’s use as slag conditioner, EBT filler sand, foundry sand, sand blasting, and refractory raw material.

Valalas demonstrated the proven benefits of using olivine with DBM in refractories and discussed research in new markets such as CO2 sequestration, soil enrichment, fertiliser, and land remediation from acid pollution.

Refractory magnesia and markets

In “Refractory market drivers: outlook for magnesia” Ted Dickson, TAK Consultancy, explained the main influences on refractory demand, the structure of the market, and world refractory production trends.

Ted Dickson: ““If steel production forecast to 2020 is achieved…about 1.3 million tonnes of magnesia more than current demand [will be required].”

Regarding steel, given an average magnesia consumption per tonne of steel of about 4kg, 2015’s decline in steel production implied a loss of about 240,000 tonnes of magnesia. There could be a further loss of magnesia demand of 32,000 tonnes for 2016.

But Dickson also presented an optimistic view: “If steel production forecast to 2020 is achieved there will be an increase of 330 million tonnes [steel] compared with 2016, requiring about 1.3 million tonnes of magnesia more than current demand.”

Dickson concluded that the rest of 2016 is expected at best to remain stable with the full year possibly a little lower than in 2015. Recovery is hoped for in 2017 with longer term growth in the region of 2-4% per annum.

Sonja Larissegger, Technical Marketing Manager, RHI AG presented “High purity magnesia raw materials for refractories” focusing on the properties, advantages and disadvantages of high purity magnesia, and the process of manufacturing dead burned magnesia from seawater at RHI’s operation in Drogheda, Ireland (formerly Premier Periclase Ltd).

Using such high purity synthetic magnesia, consuming an average 44bn litres/hour seawater to yield 10 tph DBM, Larissegger demonstrated that refractories have 30-50 % longer lifetime and an appreciable cost reduction.

Sonja Larissegger focused on the properties of high purity seawater magnesia

Another important refractory magnesia is fused magnesia, the topic of Asım Bilge, Production Engineer, DBM & FM Production Dept., Kümaş Manyezit San. AŞ, in “Fused magnesia: trends and global outlook”.

Bilge described the global fused magnesia market, demand, and prices, the effect of the global economy, and Kümaş’ fused magnesia activities.

With its third and fourth fused magnesia furnaces coming on stream in 2015, Kümaş now has 40,000 tpa fused magnesia capacity. This year the company started its electrical grade fused magnesia powder plant. Kümaş has ideal raw magnesite for the production of electrical grade FM with very low iron oxide content for high temperature applications.

Bilge concluded that “fierce” price competition of Chinese FM products continues, and there are no expectations of a market recovery in near future, while demand will continue to increase for higher quality FM grades.

Non-refractory markets

One of the primary trends at present is the quest for diversification into non-refractory magnesia markets while the refractory industry is suffering with the steel slowdown. MagForum 2016 ensured that this sector was given due attention.

Sibel Hizlan emphasised just how long it takes to properly evaluate magnesia use for cement board manufacture

Sibel Hizlan, General Manager, AK ALEV presented “Modelpan: a new generation of magnesia building boards” explaining how exhaustive research was required to evaluate the use of light burned caustic calcined magnesia (CCM) with perlite and other additives in manufacturing cement boards for construction applications.

AK Alev uses CCM produced by Kümaş. The cement boards, which the company started selling in mid-2015, are fireproof, easy to install, lightweight, flexible, and durable. A new cement board plant is now being built closer to Kümaş’ operations, while AK Alev is pursuing the US market.

“The use of magnesia in welding applications” by David Fedor, Global Consumable Chemicals Manager, Lincoln Electric Co., revealed all that you wanted to know about magnesia and welding but were afraid to ask!

A most comprehensive presentation explained the different welding processes and materials consumed, including DBM used mainly in submerged arc welding (SAW).

Lincoln consumes around 15-20,000 tpa DBM worldwide in welding applications. Natural magnesite grades are generally favoured (synthetic grades host boron which is not always welcome), and magnesia flux specifications range 85-94% MgO. Special attention must be paid to levels of carbon, phosphorus, and sulphur which must be as low as possible (max. 0.04% C, 0.01% P, 0.01% S).

Davd Fedor: a most comprehensive presentation on welding processes and materials consumed, including DBM.

“Emerging environmental high value applications for magnesia” was led by Akio Ishida, Director & Managing Executive Officer, assisted by Hirohisa Fujiwara, Manager and Kouki Takahasgi, Environment Engineer, Ube Material Industries Ltd.

Developments in new environmental applications were described including the evolution of flue gas desulphurisation in Japan, which is expected to see “expansion subside until 2020”, and “post-FGD” applications in soil and water treatment.

Hirohisa Fujiwara explains emerging environmental applications for magnesia in Japan.

Other growing applications include magnesia treating EAF dust and slag with heavy metal contamination, assisting biodiversity such as through pH control, and addressing the Red Tide issue in fisheries, and toxic waste stabilisation by glassification.

Samantha Wietlisbach, Senior Analyst, IHS presented “Flame retardant & chemical markets” and examined the global capacity of chemical magnesias, regional and end use consumption, CCM supply, demand and outlook, magnesium hydroxide applications, flame retardants, and magnesium chloride and sulphate.

Wietlisbach forecast a 2.7% growth p.a. over the next five years for non-refractory magnesia use, with magnesium sulphate, at 2.2%, magnesium chloride, 2.2%, and magnesium hydroxide, 2.8%.

An area of increasing attraction for magnesia has been hydrometallurgy. Mike Miller, Mike Miller Consulting Services, explained all in “Magnesia: its use and abuse in hydrometallurgy”.

Miller reminded that not all CCM is created equal, and demonstrated the importance of assessing CCM reactivity, before explaining the significance of stoichiometry, magnesia “blending”, solution metal content, temperature, dispersion/mixing efficiency, hydration, and storage for successful hydrometallurgical application.

Gerry Clarke poses a question to the Keynote Panel.

“The use of magnesite in the production of ceramics” by Eleni Iskou, Sales Manager for Specialities, Grecian Magnesite SA described the development of raw magnesite products specifically for ceramic applications.

Among other properties, the very low iron content of the magnesite ensures the whiteness of the final product, which is being used in ceramic markets in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Egypt.

During Q1 2016, Grecian Magnesite brought on stream a new €500,000, 60 tpd milling unit for CCM and magnesite, expanding capacity to 40,000 tpa. Part of the new capacity will be dedicated to processing magnesite to -40 microns for the ceramics market.

“A new magnesite processing technology for CCM & DBM with direct CO2 capture” by Dr Mark Sceats, Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Director, Calix Ltd showed how Calix has developed an “elegant technology” that produces very highly reactive CCM while efficiently capturing CO2.

Mark Sceats explains an “elegant technology” that produces very highly reactive CCM while efficiently capturing CO2.

Calix sources its raw material from the Myrtle magnesite deposit in South Australia, and via a continuous flash calciner produces magnesium hydroxide liquid for the treatment of acids and odours in waste water, and other applications in building products, food, agriculture, and energy.

Calix is active in several market development projects in Australia and Europe, and is investigating second generation technology to develop a DBM product, described as “an existential challenge for the EU Magnesia industry.”

IMFORMED is delighted with the success and positive feedback from delegates on MagForum 2016, and is already looking forward to planning the next conference with delegates’ comments and suggestions in mind.

Indeed, we have already begun taking bookings for sponsorships and exhibits, and offers of presentations have been accepted. Please do not hesitate to contact Ismene Clarke for the former, and Mike O’Driscoll for the latter.

A special thank you again to all of our speakers, sponsors, exhibitors, Field Trip hosts, and attendees for making the event such a success. We hope to see you again soon.

For more pictures of MagForum 2016 please go to Gallery.

For details on the MagForum 2016 programme, attendees, delegate feedback, and pictures, please go to MagForum 2016.

Ensure you don’t miss any news and updates on the next MagForum: Sign up here

Plus also join our LinkedIn Group MagForum

Oilfield Minerals Forum 2016 Review

Despite the cautious rally of oil prices in recent weeks the oil industry has remained depressed. In such downturns it is often imperative to glean market knowledge as never before.

So perhaps it was no surprise that last week’s Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Houston 2016 organised by IMFORMED with a packed programme of expert speakers, attracted a strong attendance from across the oilfield mineral supply chain.

It’s well organised and covers relevant areas. Great articulation by presenters. A great place to connect with customers, suppliers, and competitors.
Richard Zieike, VP Technology, Unimin, USA

Good turn out and interesting speakers. Very friendly and professional.
Michael Allen, President, ST Equipment & Technology, USA

With the market poised to start recovery in the near future – perhaps late 2016 at best, or mid-2017 at worst – 130 attendees from 16 countries turned up to draw on high level analysis, discussion, and networking in the oilfield minerals sector at the charismatic Houstonian Hotel, 5-7 June 2016.

Following a most enjoyable reception sponsored by leading oilfield mineral processor Excalibar Minerals LLC, 19 presentations over the next day and a half covered key aspects of oilfield mineral demand, drilling fluid developments, logistics, borates, potash, proppants, and barite.

Legends of the Oil: two experienced players of the barite market catch up at Excalibar Minerals’ sponsored reception, Brian O’Connell, Halliburton (left) and John Allen, Anglo Pacific Minerals (right).

Mineral demand outlook

There are over 30 different industrial minerals used in oilfield applications for drilling, stimulation, completion, production, well cementing, and surface preparation and cleaning.

Most minerals also serve other markets, although the fortunes of barite and to some extent bentonite, are very much tied to the oilfield sector’s performance.

Mike O’Driscoll, Director, IMFORMED opened the Forum with a look at the big picture of future energy demand, the outlook for oil and gas production and consumption and its impact on the future requirements for industrial minerals used in the oilfield sector.

Key areas to watch will be the growing demand for gas as the future fossil fuel of choice, particularly from the Asia Pacific region, and with this an expected increase in shale gas development, not only from North America, but also from China and the Middle East.

“The Middle East rig count has been stable, with 50-60% of barite demand met by China” Chris Bosch, Category Manager, Halliburton Baroid.

Chris Bosch, Category Manager, Halliburton Baroid, presented “Oilfield mineral consumption trends” with a strong focus on barite, the main weighting agent in drilling muds.

With the market decline, Bosch estimated barite consumption in drilling would hold about a 70-75% share of total barite demand in 2016 (down by some 10% from say 2012).

Notable trends included increased investment in mining and production activities in China to optimise supply capabilities; Morocco has continued to expand capabilities to produce 4.2+ material, and is now ranked as the world’s no.2 producer after China; and 4.2 SG deposits are being mined effectively in new areas and improved technology has changed the narrative.

In “Drilling and drilling fluid developments”, Brian Teutsch, Product Line Director, Drilling & Completion Fluids, Baker Hughes Inc., covered equivalent circulating density (ECD) and weighting agents, wellbore strengthening materials versus lost circulation materials, and challenges and opportunities in drilling unconventional resources.

Teutsch outlined the debate over the pros and cons of increased viscosity in drilling fluids, and said that on balance smaller particle size weighting agents were “in”, and that on this topic “the market had spoken”.

“Smaller particle size weighting agents are in” Brian Teutsch, Product Line Director, Drilling & Completion Fluids, Baker Hughes Inc.

In the high demand for lubricants in drilling unconventionals, Teutsch showed that demand for graphite as a lubricant in drilling fluids had declined in contrast to non-mineral lubricants.

Logistics

As ever, logistics remained a common denominator throughout the Forum: Bosch reminded that logistics costs made up about 22% of the delivered price of barite.

Jesper Hoppe, Managing Director, Viking Shipping Co. A/S, and Morten Petersen, Managing Director, Viking Shipping Co. (Hong Kong) Ltd, reprised their informative and entertaining double act in “Shipping costs: never so low since the age of the Vikings”.

The audience was reminded of the total imbalance of cargo demand and fleet supply at present, with scrapping to reach the same level and deliveries this year. No recovery in the freight market is expected during 2016 or 2017.

For mineral suppliers, while on the one hand the situation of record low freight rates is attractive, Hoppe and Petersen urged careful due diligence on the choice of shippers owing to the high rate of bankruptcies and business failures occurring in the market.

Richard Dodd, President, RDC Logistics, presented “Logistical challenges and solutions for oilfield minerals” looking at managing channels and costs in US rail, truck, barge, ports, import bulk, and ocean containers.

Vikings take the stage on the shipping outlook, with not much improvement expected for freight rates in the next 1-2 years: Jesper Hoppe & Morten Petersen, Viking Shipping Norway.

Dodd gave an example of a dry bulk West Coast delivery comprising up to 23 different cost components: mineral/vessel 8 components; port of entry stevedoring/port 6 components; rail to destination 6 components; and destination 3 components.

Dodd also pointed out the ramifications of the impending SOLAS Container Weight Verification Requirement, effective 1 July 2016, where a container must be weighed before loading to ship.

Borates & Potash

“Borates in oilfield applications” by David Schubert, Principal Scientist, US Borax Inc., highlighted the use of mineral borates and refined borates in the oilfield sector.

Borates have many functions in different applications including: drilling and completion (drilling fluids, oil well cement set retardant, well and reservoir logging, sour gas scavenging); stimulation (hydraulic fracturing fluids); enhancing oil recovery (water flooding profile control, alkaline surfactant flooding).

In fracking fluids, the single largest use of borates in oilfield, borates are used as crosslinking agents to produce rheological fluids. The borates form “self-healing gels” that recover viscosity after high shear.

“K Man”, Jeff Blair, VP Sales & Marketing, Intrepid Potash presented “Potash and its role in oil and gas production”

Introducing himself as the “K Man”, Jeff Blair, VP Sales & Marketing, Intrepid Potash presented “Potash and its role in oil and gas production”.

Blair explained how KCl is used to combat the problems of having swelling clay in hydraulic fracturing fluids. Its key properties are: great cation exchange; small size of the K+ ion; low hydration number; good water weight; relatively inexpensive; environmentally friendly; and pH neutral.

Evidence from frac treatments by Halliburton and in Western Siberia showed that a frac solution containing 7% KCl was preferable.

Proppants

The principles of hydraulic fracturing and proppants were described by Pickard Trepess, Managing Director, FracPT FZE in “Developments in proppant selection for hydraulic fracturing.”

Trepess explained that there is a trend away from using ceramic proppants to frac sands. Under high pressure environments (7-10,000 psi) frac sand fails and starts to crush. However, the crushed proppant can help keep slipped fractures open.

Trepess demonstrated that a prevailing “nanoDarcy environment” favours continuous use of frac sand rather than expensive ceramic proppants.

“There’s no ‘k’ in frac” Pickard Trepess, Managing Director, FracPT FZE.

Paul Williams, Vice President of Technology and Innovation, ArrMaz presented “Reducing silica dust with proppant coating technology” and explained how respirable silica dust created during shipping and transfer of frac sand is driving the need for improved innovations.

OSHA PEL (permissible exposure limit) for respirable crystalline silica dust was revised downward on 23 March 2016, and the current PEL is 0.1 mg/m³; OSHA announced the PEL will be lowered to 0.05 mg/m³ effective 23 June 2016.

ArrMaz has developed a new silica sand coating technology called SandTec. SandTec works by applying a microscopic monomeric coating on the sand proppant which controls dust and lowers fines generation by reducing attrition whenever proppant is transferred.

As the US ceramic proppant industry idles capacity awaiting market recovery, Jim Flowers, VP Sales, Marketing and Innovation, Imerys, presented “Manufacturing ceramic proppant during the downturn”.

Flowers questioned whether spherical proppants were the future: “There is a physical limit on how round and how tightly sieved a product can get. The more spherical and smooth the pellet the more likely to encounter flowback issues. Are we reaching the limit of spherical proppants today?”

He introduced rod-shaped proppants, which Imerys has been producing for some years now, exhibiting higher porosity, around 45%, higher conductivity and “built-in” flowback control due to its packing arrangement.

Flowers tracked the rise and fall in US proppant demand over the last few years, with forecasts showing much reduced future demand in 2016-18, especially in ceramic proppant consumption at around 0.6-0.8bn lbs (compared to 3.4bn lbs in 2014).

One particular factor of interest is the amount of drilled uncompleted (DUC) onshore wells in the USA, standing at some 8,150. Flowers said this inventory represents six months of completion activity (based on 2015 monthly average), and means US producers can react quickly to recovery, with the Permian Basin expected to remain the most active in the short- mid term.

Dr David Henson, President, LWP Technologies LLC, related the development of fly ash-based proppants by LWP in Brisbane, Australia.

“New generation ceramic proppants” by Dr David Henson, President, LWP Technologies LLC, related the development of fly ash-based proppants by LWP in Brisbane, Australia.

LWP’s 3,000 tpa pilot plant in Brisbane was commissioned in August 2015 and has produced ceramic proppants tested at 12,000 psi. The company has sold its first licence to convert bauxite-based proppant facilities to fly ash-based proppant processing in India.

Later this year, LWP is aiming to complete production of porous and ultra-lightweight proppants.

The theme of ceramic proppant manufacturing continued with Joe Roettle, Global Sales Manager, Ecutec Barcelona SL in “A comprehensive look at ceramic proppant types and processes”.

Roettle underlined the key factors of the ceramic proppant processing: “recipe”, sintering, and shaping, and explained the stages of milling, mixing and pelletisation, screening, and sintering,

Barite

Day 2 was devoted to the barite sector covering supply from Morocco, India, and China as well as developments in processing.

Imane Moudnib, Marketing Manager, Broychim presented “Morocco’s barite supply”, showing that the country now accounts for 14% of world barite supply, producing 1.2m tonnes in 2015, and is now second after China (40% of world production).

Imane Moudnib, Marketing Manager, Broychim presented “Morocco’s barite supply”, showing that the country now accounts for 14% of world barite supply.

With 6m. tonnes of barite reserves and five mines, Broychim has grown steadily as a major supplier of barite since 2002, and in 2014 installed its third grinding plant at Safi.

Broychim’s barite exports grew to 54% (400,000 tonnes) of Morocco’s total barite exports in 2015.

In addition to drilling grade barite, Broychim is active in chemical grade barite, calcium carbonate, manganese ore, and zinc ore.

A review of APMDC’s barite mining activities was kindly presented by Raj Settipalli, as Vice President of The Barytes Association (also Chief Executive Officer, RockFin Minerals).

The state of Andhra Pradesh holds more than 90% of India’s barite reserves, and within the state APMDC holds almost 98% of the reserve.

In 2015, India slipped to fourth position after China, USA & Morocco, and accounts for 11% of global supply. Temporary disruption at the Mangampet mine resulted in a decline in supply in 2015.

Grades produced include 50% A grade (API 4.2), 15% B Grade (API 4.1), and 35% Low grade (< 4.1).

APMDC is aiming at a 3m. tpa production rate for FY2016, and to 5m. tpa over the next two to three years.

Moving to barite processing, Steve Gray, Consultant, ST Equipment & Technologies LLC presented “Triboelectrostatic separation: new developments in barite beneficiation”.

Gray explained triboelectrostatic separation as an environmentally responsible and water-free process with which to beneficiate minerals. STET has proven separator applications with barite, talc, calcium carbonate, potash, and fly ash.

“Triboelectrostatic separation as an environmentally responsible and water-free process with which to beneficiate minerals” Steve Gray, Consultant, ST Equipment & Technologies LLC.

Benefits include a small physical footprint, dry process, low energy, environmentally friendly, high production rate (40-50 tph), particle separation of <1-500 microns, and easy operation.

In a slight departure from barite, Charles Landis, Executive Vice-President, Technology Development, HPPE LLC, presented “Advances in biopolymer chemistry and selected applications in the oilfield.”

In this he described functions of biopolymers and their synergies with minerals in oilfield applications, such as using levan as a lost circulation material enhancer with calcium minerals.

Chinese barite

Bill Wang, Director & General Manager, Guizhou Sinobarite Mining Co. Ltd provided an excellent overview of the Chinese barite industry in “China’s barite industry status and analysis”.

Owing to many of China’s commercial deposits being mined for over 30 years, much of the best quality material of these mines has already been consumed. The average specific gravity in many producing mines in China today is in the region of 4.10.

Wang said that the majority of Chinese shipments of 4.2 barite ore are blended cargoes of high grade and low grade material, as well as jigged product. Some Chinese barite shipments, owing to the large size cargo of 68,000 tonnes, maybe composed of barite from multiple sources.

While there is an abundance of barite resources in China, many of these mines are undeveloped, difficult to explore or commercially unviable.

Chinese barite production, which dropped 25% to 3m. tonnes in 2015, is forecast to contract by a further 15-20% in 2016, to about 2.5m tonnes.

SinoBarite owns five mines, located at Duyun, and Kaili, Guizhou with estimated total reserves of 4.5m. tonnes, and has a capacity of 400,000 tpa drilling grade barite ore and 100,000 drilling grade barite powder. Almost 200,000 tonnes was exported to the USA, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, and Thailand.

Ian Wilson, Consultant, described a new alliance of Chinese barite suppliers in “Guizhou Gulf Minerals Co. Ltd: the new force in supplying Chinese barite.”

Ian Wilson, Consultant, prepares to present the new force in supplying Chinese barite: Guizhou Gulf Minerals Co. Ltd.

In January 2016, Guizhou Gulf Minerals was joined by Rocky Mountains, Xinshike, and Jun Wang Mining Co. Ltd, and in May 2016 by Yichang Zhongrun Barium Industry Co. Ltd, to export barite from China.

Wilson proceeded to review the extensive range of deposits, mines and plants operated by the companies, for both drilling and chemical grade barite, across Guizhou, Guangxi, Hubei, Hunan and Yunnan provinces.

Guizhou Gulf will mainly use Fangcheng Port for exports of barite, in both bulk and containers, with the port also hosting its office and laboratory.

An area of 2,700 m2 has been rented which will allow for 5,000 tonnes of white barite, while an area of 10,000 m2 will allow 35,000 tonnes of drilling grade barite.

“Chinese barite: how to find opportunities in the downturn” was presented by Rita Hu, General Manager, Guizhou Saboman Imp. & Exp. Co. Ltd.

“Everyone has a plan ’till they get punched in the mouth.”, Rita Hu, General Manager, Guizhou Saboman quotes Mike Tyson in her analysis of essential elements to success.

Using the facilities and operations of Guizhou Saboman as an example, Hu explored the essential elements of technology, cost, ideas, team, and timing, that can lead to opportunities.

With seven mines in south-west China and one in central China, the company produces 400-500,000 tonnes of drilling barite lump, 50-100,000 tonnes chemical lump, and 50-100,000 tonnes white lump.

Using Mike Tyson’s quote: “Everyone has a plan ’till they get punched in the mouth.”, Hu warned that timing in the market was crucial to business success.

Wrap-up

IMFORMED is delighted with the success and positive feedback from delegates on Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Houston 2016, and is already looking forward to planning next year’s conference with delegates’ comments and suggestions in mind.

Indeed, we have already begun taking bookings for sponsorships and exhibits, and offers of presentations have been accepted. Please do not hesitate to contact Ismene Clarke for the former, and Mike O’Driscoll for the latter.

A special thank you again to all of our speakers, sponsors, exhibitors, and attendees for making the event such a success. We hope to see you again soon.

Some consolation in the downturn: Juan Luis Prieto, President, Baramin walks off with the Forum Finale Draw Prize, a bottle of Scotland’s Finest. Congratulations! And here’s to better times next year

For more pictures of Oilfield Minerals 2016 please go to Gallery.

For details on the Oilfield Minerals 2016 programme, attendees, delegate feedback, and pictures, please go to Oilfield Minerals 2016.

Ensure you don’t miss any news and updates on the next Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum: Sign up here

Graphite Supply Chain 2016 | The world’s new meeting place for the natural graphite industry

As industrial minerals go, graphite can be as exciting as it gets (no disrespect to US frac sand developers in the mid-2000s!).

There are few commercially developed sources, distinct grade development and specifications are required, and processing and logistics can be tricky if you don’t get them right.

The market is dominated by a few long-established mature end uses requiring large volumes, and several specialist applications requiring lower volumes.

Then, along comes the promise of a game changer in the energy industry – Li-ion batteries – which could potentially require a great deal of graphite in the future.

Oh, and as a sideshow in the graphite world, there has been the emergence of the “wonder material” graphene, which is apparently set to revolutionise manufacturing technology for a wide range of applications.

All told, a heady mix if you’re involved in the black stuff of graphite.

To make sense of it all, and gain knowledge of the latest market trends and developments, while at the same time networking with the leading players of the industry, you need to attend:

Graphite Supply Chain 2016, 13-15 November 2016, Newport Beach, LA

The world’s new meeting place for the natural graphite industry brought to you by IMFORMED and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.

New source potential energised by battery growth

The rise of the lithium ion battery market has unleashed a torrent of investors and developers keen to ride this new market wave.

According to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, demand for graphite used as anode material in lithium ion batteries is set to increase by over 200% in the next four years as global cell production surges on the back of maturing pure electric vehicle demand and the inception of the utility storage market.

Benchmark forecasts the battery anode market – which is nearly exclusively served (98%) by naturally sourced spherical graphite and synthetically produced graphite – to increase from 80,000 tpa in 2015 to at least 250,000 tpa by the end of 2020, while the market could be as large as 400,000 tpa in the most bullish of cases with no supply restrictions.

Taking the most conservative case, Benchmark estimates that over 360,000 tonnes of medium flake graphite will be needed as a feedstock source for the spherical material by 2020. This is nearly a doubling of the flake concentrate market in 2015 should the natural-to-synthetic demand proportions remain the same in 2020.

Unsurprisingly, such developments have instigated a serious upsurge in graphite project developments among new and established graphite players in order to meet this potential new demand.

Also driving the quest for new graphite sources has been the continuous difficulties arising with Chinese graphite supply in recent years – historically the world’s largest supplier accounting for around 60% of world flake graphite production.

That said, it is notable that much of the anticipated Li-ion battery manufacturing capacity is expected to be located in China, and certainly Asia overall.

Natural vs synthetic graphite

Around 65% of all battery anode material is sourced from natural spherical graphite, 33% from synthetic graphite material, and the remaining 2% from other alternatives such as lithium titanate, silicon and tin used in very small amounts.

Simon Moores, Managing Director, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, commented: “So basically the future’s bright for anyone in graphite for batteries. The only question remains over the market share of natural versus synthetic.”

“With natural much cheaper to produce, by up to 50%, the only question is whether the natural spherical capacity – in the right qualities – will be on stream in time to service the increasing battery demand. It probably won’t be, which is why synthetic graphite will continue to command a reasonable share 25-35% between now and end-2020. ” said Moores.

Analysing consumption trends over the last 10 years, Benchmark concludes that there is little doubt that battery consumers prefer naturally sourced graphite, which is much lower cost to produce and has a lower environmental impact than synthetic graphite.

Market realism: what of the “traditional” graphite markets?

There is no doubt that the battery market for graphite has grown, from around 9% in 2012 to 19-20% in 2015.

Should forecast demand for graphite in batteries play out, then it is expected to take over from refractories as graphite’s leading end use market by 2020.

However, graphite remains a primary workhorse raw material required by the metallurgical industry: used in magnesia-carbon refractories for steelmaking; as a recarburiser in steelmaking; and in crucibles and coatings in the foundry sector.

The material is also still in demand as a lubricant and in a host of smaller volume uses such as in the oilfield, polymer, agriculture, and nuclear industries.

These markets should not be overlooked by project developers, since they are likely to remain the meat and drink consumers for any graphite producer until the Li-ion battery market really takes hold, and even after that (just take a look at the forecast graphite demand chart below).

Moreover, steel and metal manufacturing, while tied to the vagaries of overall economic performance (ie. construction, automobiles, shipbuilding, manufacturing), has a strong future and might remain more stable than the new era of energy provision.

Using data from the USGS up to 2014. Forecasts for non-battery use are based on a growth rate of 1.7% per year (extrapolated from data between 2000 and 2014). Forecasts for battery grade graphite demand are based on the forecast battery demand growth, assuming a split of 65% natural to 35% synthetic and a yield of 0.4 tonnes of battery grade graphite per tonne of flake graphite. For the ten years between 2015 and 2025, forecast demand growth is about 250,000 tonnes per year, of which 180,000 tonnes will be used in the production of lithium ion batteries. Source: Jaberwock

How to make sense of it all

• Just how realistic is the battery market potential for graphite?

• How should the graphite supply market react, and what of its outlook?

• Which projects are most likely to come to fruition?

• Which grades are in most demand?

• What solutions are there to processing challenges?

• How are the industrial markets for graphite performing and trending?

• Should battery demand for graphite increase markedly, what impact will that have on industrial markets demand?

• How are and will graphite prices be influenced by market demand?

Brought to you by IMFORMED and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, Graphite Supply Chain 2016, 13-15 November 2016, Newport Beach, LA, will bring together a host of leading graphite experts to discuss these issues and more.

Join us for 3 days of presentations, workshops and networking events all dedicated to examining the present and future of the natural graphite industry.

Confirmed speakers

The graphite supply chain: the rising criticality of niche minerals versus commodities
Mike O’Driscoll, Director, IMFORMED, UK
Graphite: An independent supply/demand forecast for 2017 onwards
Simon Moores, Managing Director, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, UK
Refractories: Global trends and the future for graphite’s biggest market
Dr Paschoal Bonadia Neto, Mineral Technology Manager, Mineral Technology Centre, Magnesita Refratários SA, Brazil
North America review of graphite supply & demand
Stephen Riddle, Asbury Carbons, USA
New major near term supply outlook
Tolga Kumova, Syrah Resources, Australia
Batteries: An independent market overview and forecast to 2022
Sam Jaffe, Managing Director, Cairn Energy Research Associates , USA
The evolving use and applications of graphite in the foundry industry
Richard Clark, Senior Technical Specialist, Morgan Advanced Materials, USA
Expandable Graphite: meeting supply for an evolving growth market
Thomas Junker, Managing Director, Graphit Kropfmühl, Germany
Flake graphite price outlook
Andrew Miller, Analyst, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, UK

Other topics to include:

• The surging lithium-ion battery market: the next 5 years
• Recaburiser market outlook
• China: the future for graphite supply and demand
• Europe review of graphite supply & demand
• New suppliers in the pipeline

Plus:

• 2 x Workshop & Discussion: Batteries | Industrials
• Concurrent exhibition
• Receptions, lunches, coffee breaks specifically designed for networking
• Private meeting space service and facilities
• and a stunning beach proximal location in California…

Early Bird Registration US$1500
Closes 31 August 2016
Thereafter US$2000

REGISTER NOW

Contact: Ismene Clarke
T: +44 7905771494 ismene@imformed.com

Direct sourcing of Chinese high grade fused and dead burned magnesia

One of China’s leading magnesia producers, Liaoning Jinding Magnesite Group Co. Ltd (JDMG), has named Jinding USA (JDUSA) its exclusive magnesia sales agent and exporter for North, Central and South America.

JDUSA, based in Pennsylvania, was recently established by James Piraino, its President, formerly Chief Operating Officer, North America of Magnesita Refratários SA.

JDMG’s Huaziyu magnesite mine near Dashiqiao, Liaoning, one of two sources producing in total some 1m tpa of very high quality magnesite. Courtesy JDMG

The initial focus will be on supplying premium grade fused magnesia (96-98% MgO), and this will be followed by high grade dead burned magnesia.

JDMG owns high quality magnesite reserves and has production capacities of 200,000 tpa fused magnesia and 120,000 tpa dead burned magnesia.

The new company claims that through such an innovative partnership, refractory manufacturers in the Americas will for the first time have access to high volumes of superior quality magnesia products while achieving significant cost-savings associated with a direct selling approach.

James Piraino, President, JDUSA, told IMFORMED: “We recognised the opportunity to better serve refractory clients in the Americas leveraging a model that has proven effective in China for more than 100 years – bringing them premium quality, consistent magnesia direct from JDMG.”

“The supply channel that JDUSA creates will deliver consistent, superior products that refractory manufacturers in the Americas can rely on to improve performance and achieve cost savings.” said Piraino.

Certainly, there has always been a healthy debate in securing raw material supply for end users between direct sourcing and the use of traders to source, market, and distribute the material.

In direct sourcing, consumers seek to satisfy themselves by interfacing directly as much as possible with their prospective sources, with more of a hands-on approach regarding relationships, sampling and testing, and ultimate purchasing.

But employing the services of traders can be advantageous in providing a buffer against certain risks in the process, particularly regarding logistics, trade tariffs, and associated issues, as well as providing a range of potential sources to assess with which they have perhaps already close relationships.

“This is an important day in the history of JDMG and a big step forward as we expand our business to international markets. We are famous for producing premier fused magnesia for the Chinese refractory industry. We are very excited about the formation of JDUSA and look forward to growing our customer base in the Americas through JDUSA.” said Shixu Qin, chairman of JDMG.

JDMG a major magnesia player

JDMG has a rich history of nearly one hundred years of operation, it was established in 1918, and is one of the world’s leading magnesite producers.

Located in the primary magnesite mining area of Dashiqiao-Haicheng, Liaoning province in north-east China, JDMG is logistically well located just 10km from the Shenyang-Dalian highway, 7km from Harbin-Dalian highway, 7.5km from the north-east railway, and, crucially for exports, just 35km from Bayuquan port.

JDMG owns three deposits which it is exploiting with open pits: Qingshanhuai (magnesite), Huaziyu (magnesite), and Chenjiapuzi (dolomite).

Total proven reserves of magnesite and dolomite are reportedly 1.2bn, accounting for about 30% of the country’s total reserves, and 80% of that of the Dashiqiao region.

JDMG’s plant hosts 2 rotary kilns for dead burned magnesia (DBM), up to 40 electric arc furnaces for fused magnesia (FM), and 12 kilns for caustic calcined magnesite (CCM).

Annual production capacities have been reported as:

As can be seen from the accompanying charts, China is the world’s largest producer of magnesia grades and plays an influential role in world trade in dead burned and fused magnesia (44% and 81%, respectively). China produced about 17.4m tonnes of magnesite in 2015.

Of note is that the majority of natural DBM and FM producers are integrated or captive producers, ie. owned and operated by large companies which also produce magnesia-based refractories.

Most Chinese magnesia producers are integrated, and JDMG is no exception, although is one of the smaller producers of refractory products.

There are several magnesite project developers which are entertaining ideas of potential fused magnesia capacities, although these are unlikely to come to fruition soon, if at all: see Fused magnesia projects: are they all crystal clear?

JDMG has production capacity for 200,000 tpa fused magnesia; here fused magnesia ingots are left to cool prior to breaking up and sorting, as has been started top left. Courtesy JDMG

High grade fused magnesia for refractories

The impurities in magnesia and fused magnesia play a very important role in refractory applications.

Depending on the CaO and SiO2 content (C/S ratio) a series of secondary crystalline components are formed with different melting points.

The C/S ratio ensures that the melting point of the secondary components are in the same range as magnesia. A C/S ratio of ≥2.0 ensures the best physical and chemical properties of the brick.

JDMG has one of the largest deposits of magnesia in China with a C/S ratio ≥2.0. The availability of such magnesia, either as dead burned or fused, is becoming increasingly rare.

JDMG fused magnesia premium grades typically contain 96.0-98.0% MgO, 0.5-2.2% SiO2, 0.5-0.9% Fe2O3, C/S 1.65-2.00, and bulk densities ranging 3.35-3.50 g/cm3.

Leading magnesia and refractory producer RHI AG was also attracted to the high quality of JDMG’s magnesite reserves.

Experienced observers of the magnesia market may recall RHI AG embarking on a 83:17% joint venture (Liaoning RHI Jinding Magnesia Co. Ltd) with JDMG in 2006 to construct a US$50m, 100,000 tpa plant to produce high purity DBM and FM as feedstock for RHI’s refractory plants at Bayuquan and Dalian.

One of the main target markets for JDMG’s fused magnesia will be in mag-carbon refractories for the steel industry where quality problems are becoming more frequent with an apparent growing shortage of consistent quality supply of fused material.

JDUSA reports that refractory suppliers are utilising higher grade materials for the most demanding mag-carbon applications, such as ladle slag lines, getting good performance from early trials, but having trouble repeating such performance as bricks fail prematurely owing to inconsistencies in fused magnesia.

JDUSA sees the outlook for the refractory industry recovering from the current downturn by 2017, and start to grow between 2-3% annually.

World magnesia supply and demand, plus fused magnesia trends and outlook were covered in presentations at this year’s inaugural MagForum 2016, 9-11 May 2016, Vienna.

For an in-depth review of the conference, plus pictures, programme, attendees, and feedback go to MagForum 2016

 

Graphite supply and demand outlook – how will the rise in battery demand impact graphite availability for refractories? Find out at

Graphite Supply Chain 2016, 13-15 November 2016, Newport Beach, LA

Speakers include:

Refractories: Global trends and the future for graphite’s biggest market
Dr Paschoal Bonadia Neto, Mineral Technology Manager, Mineral Technology Centre, Magnesita Refratários SA, Brazil
The evolving use and applications of graphite in the foundry industry
Richard Clark, Senior Technical Specialist, Morgan Advanced Materials, USA
North America review of graphite supply & demand
Stephen Riddle, CEO, Asbury Carbons, USA

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Early Bird Registration Ends 31 August 2016

Registration enquiries: Ismene +44 (0)7905 771 494
ismene@imformed.com

In Memoriam: William H. McCracken 1923-2016

It is with great sadness that we report the passing of William H. “Bill” McCracken, aged 92. Bill passed away of heart failure, in Lima, Peru on 7 August after suffering two mini-strokes earlier in the year.

Bill McCracken was a legend in the field of refractory raw materials, and was affectionately known as “Bauxite Bill”.

He spent a long career at Harbison-Walker Refractories in Pittsburgh and Peru (1947-85), then at F&S International Inc. (1985-98), at the time one of the leading mineral traders specialising in sourcing refractory raw materials. He evaluated refractory raw materials and their potential in more than 40 countries.

Side by side: two late legends of the refractory raw materials world pictured at UNITECR 2005, Miami: Bill McCracken (right), formerly of Harbison-Walker and F&S International, who passed earlier this month, and Prof. Zhong Xiang Chong (left), of the High Temperature Material Research Institute, Zhengzhou University, Henan, China, who passed away in 2015.

His technical knowledge of refractory minerals was extensive, deeply respected across the industry, always sought after, and always generously shared.

Naturally, he was very active in participating in industry conferences and contributed many excellent presentations, discussions, and articles to the refractories media.

Bill was one of the founders of the Asociacion Latinoamericana de Fabricantes de Refractarios (ALAFAR),  serving as its president on various occasions, and a prime force in the establishment of the Unified International Technical Conference on Refractories (UNITECR), with its inaugural conference in Anaheim, California in 1989, and later served two stints as an Executive Board Member.

While working in Latin America, he was responsible for establishing a subsidiary of Harbison-Walker – Refractarios Peruanos (REPSA), Peru (now independent) – of which he was its first Managing Director (1953-72).

In 2005, REPSA celebrated its 50th Anniversary, marking the occasion with the dedication of its new R&D facility, the William J. McCracken Research Center. Bill was also recognised by the National Society of Industries and the Committee of Glass, Ceramics, Refractories and Related Products (La Sociedad Nacional de Industrias y el Comite de Vidrios, Ceramicas, Refractarions, y Afines) for his long and dedicated contribution to the industry.

Bill was the recipient of many awards in recognition of his authority on refractory raw materials, which included: ACerS Fellowship, Distinguished Life Member of UNITECR, American Institute of Mining Engineers (AIME) Legion of Honor, Honorary Life Member of ALAFAR, American Ceramic Society’s Albert Bleininger award (1997), and the 2007 Tredennick Award of The Refractories Institute.

A passion for understanding the value of raw material sourcing

Of immense value was Bill’s ability to grasp, understand utterly, and spread the word about the importance of raw materials’ quality and their global sourcing to the refractory end product.

In a memorable Worldwide Raw Materials Panel Discussion at UNITECR 2005, Miami, guess who was first up at the Q&A session? Bill McCracken, announcing “that there would be no life without refractories, and without raw materials there would be no refractories.”

His emphasis was that “…we tend to neglect the importance of sources of raw materials, we take them for granted, and our efforts are aimed at the end product and we neglect the raw material, we need to get closer to the source. We need reliable agents to get closer to raw materials, and show concern for them, and visit the supply centres.”

As a former Editor of Industrial Minerals magazine (1995-2012) this author can attest to the long-standing and invaluable contribution Bill made to the periodical’s coverage of the refractories market.

Back in 1987, Bill was a refractories and refractory mineral rock to me while I was all at sea in my early years as a young Assistant Editor grappling with the intricacies of the refractories business.

He always found time to advise and answer my countless questions with exquisite grace, and even in retirement he kindly maintained contact sending news, ideas, and opinions which were forever welcomed and cherished.

Notable among the many conversations we had was a running theme about a certain Peruvian andalusite operation which he tipped me off as a “scoop” back in the mid-1990s, but which never seemed to get off the ground, and which served to fuel an Editor’s scepticism.

Of course, Bill knew better and kept faith with the project and in the end he was proved right, it finally coming to fruition in 2006 as Andalucita SA and in production by 2009.

For those that knew Bill, such outcomes were not surprising. As another experienced refractories expert related: “All of his ventures did not show positive outcome, but where there was opportunity, Bill was either first or close behind those leading the charge.”

Such highlights included original work at Magnesita, Brazil leading to their production of dead burned product; pioneering work to develop Chinese refractory mineral sources; his involvement with clays in Iran; magnesia at Fyfield, Australia; and work in chromite in Masinloc, the Philippines, and in Quebec and Newfoundland.

Some world class refractory raw material sources are name-checked in that brief insight to some of Bill’s past work.

His name and invaluable contribution to the refractories world will be long remembered.

Bill received his BS and MS in Mining Engineering from Pennsylvania State University (1944 & 1947, respectively). He saw active duty during WWII as a lieutenant in the US Navy (1944-1946), including the Iwo Jima and Okinawa battles, and then with mine sweeping duties of some of the Japanese islands after the end of the war.

Bill is survived by his wife of 57 years, Nora of Lima, Peru, sons William Jr. (Kathleen) of Duluth, GA, Derek (Rosalie) of Pittsburgh, PA, David McCracken (Sandra) of Gillett, PA and daughter Susan Fleming (Bill); and six grandchildren, William, Will, Brandon, Andrew, Michael and Kyle.

Download Obituary PDF here

Early Bird Registration Closing Today

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Confirmed speakers

The graphite supply chain: the rising criticality of niche minerals versus commodities
Mike O’Driscoll, Director, IMFORMED, UK
Graphite: An independent supply/demand forecast for 2017 onwards
Simon Moores, Managing Director, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, UK
Refractories: Global trends and the future for graphite’s biggest market
Dr Paschoal Bonadia Neto, Mineral Technology Manager, Mineral Technology Centre, Magnesita Refratários SA, Brazil
North America review of graphite supply & demand
Stephen Riddle, Asbury Carbons, USA
New major near term supply outlook
Tolga Kumova, Syrah Resources, Australia
Batteries: An independent market overview and forecast to 2022
Sam Jaffe, Managing Director, Cairn Energy Research Associates , USA
The evolving use and applications of graphite in the foundry industry
Richard Clark, Senior Technical Specialist, Morgan Advanced Materials, USA
Expandable Graphite: meeting supply for an evolving growth market
Thomas Junker, Managing Director, Graphit Kropfmühl, Germany
Flake graphite price outlook
Andrew Miller, Analyst, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, UK
Developing graphite projects in Africa
Julian Stephens, Managing Director, Sovereign Metals Ltd, Australia
Battery Market Workshop
Dr Joseph Li, Product Manager for Energy Materials, Superior Graphite, USA

Other topics to include:

• The surging lithium-ion battery market: the next 5 years
• Recaburiser market outlook
• China: the future for graphite supply and demand
• Europe review of graphite supply & demand
• New suppliers in the pipeline

Plus:

• 2 x Workshop & Discussion: Batteries | Industrials
• Concurrent exhibition
• Receptions, lunches, coffee breaks specifically designed for networking
• Private meeting space service and facilities
• and a stunning beach proximal location in California…

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Announcing IMFORMED’s Refractory Raw Material World Sources Map^®

Primary world sources and production capacity of key refractory raw materials

As we know, the physical and chemical properties of industrial minerals make good their application in a wide variety of industrial and domestic uses. Manufacturing of refractory products is one of the most important markets for industrial minerals, with some 35m tonnes of refractory minerals consumed each year.

Around 24 different industrial minerals are required to produce a wide range of refractory shapes and monolithics for primary heat process industries such as steel, non-ferrous metals, cement, glass, ceramics, petrochemicals, and municipal incinerators.

World refractories leader RHI for example, consumes around 800-900,00 tpa of refractory raw materials from external sources, and records that raw material expenditure accounts for 60% of production costs.

But where are the key sources of these important refractory minerals?

Complementing its highly regarded Mineral Market Matrix^® Wall Chart, showing at a glance which minerals for which markets, IMFORMED is pleased to announce publication of its new Refractory Raw Material World Sources Map^®.

Refractory Raw Material World Sources Map^® provides a big picture view of the world’s primary sources by country and production capacity for the key refractory minerals of speciality aluminas, fused alumina, andalusite, calcined bauxite, chromite, graphite, dead burned magnesia, fused magnesia, silicon carbide, and zircon.

Additional displayed data includes world refractory raw material consumption by type, refractory mineral typical specifications, refractory mineral summary classification, and refractory mineral supply chain options.

Refractory Raw Material World Sources Map^® is an indispensible tool for refractory raw material suppliers, purchasers, traders, distributors, researchers, and all those active in the refractory mineral supply chain.

Pick up a copy when you visit the IMFORMED booth at next week’s 59th International Colloquium on Refractories 2016, 28-29 September 2016, Aachen. We would be delighted to meet you there.

Otherwise, for copies please contact:

Ismene Clarke | ismene@imformed.com | +44 (0)7905 771 494

Learn the latest on graphite supply and demand for the refractories market at Graphite Supply Chain 2016, 13-15 November 2016, Newport Beach, programme of expert speakers confirmed including:

Refractories: Global trends and the future for graphite’s biggest market
Dr Paschoal Bonadia Neto, Mineral Technology Manager, Mineral Technology Centre, Magnesita Refratários SA, Brazil

The evolving use and applications of graphite in the foundry industry
Richard Clark, Senior Technical Specialist, Morgan Advanced Materials, USA

China: the future for graphite supply and demand
Haibo Mo, Deputy General Manager, Qingdao Hensen Graphite Co., China

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Supply and demand trends revealed by Simon Moores, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence

The use of graphite in lithium-ion batteries has been a huge topic of discussion over the last few years.

Naturally, this has ramped up interest in the carbon mineral and demand appears to be growing. How the increase in graphite consumption in Li-ion batteries may impact flake graphite availability for its other established markets, such as in refractories and foundry, remains to be seen and is a significant topic.

This will be one of the key discussion points at Graphite Supply Chain 2016, 13-15 November 2016, Newport Beach organised by IMFORMED and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.

Jocelyn Aspa of Investing News Network recently interviewed Simon Moores, managing director of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, about the graphite sector, including:

• Graphite demand
• How China’s export restrictions will affect the market
• If investors should be supporting projects elsewhere
• Why most of the world’s graphite comes from China
• What trends in the graphite space investors should be looking at
• Will graphite demand increase by 200% over the next four years

INN: You mentioned in a May blog post that you expect graphite demand to more than treble in four years. What are the biggest drivers of that change?

SM: Lithium-ion battery uptake across the world and in many areas of our lives is no doubt the biggest driver of this change.

“The lithium-ion battery anode market could grow to at least 250,000 tonnes by end-2020. China is forcing change in the industry. It’s not just about Tesla and its huge gigafactory: over 70% of new lithium-ion battery demand is coming from China.” Simon Moores, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.

The emergence of pure electric vehicles and stationary storage, particularly in China, is reshaping the way we use and store energy and this is having a major impact on lithium-ion battery raw materials, especially graphite, lithium and cobalt.

INN: China is once again being targeted for unfair export restrictions, including graphite, as you have noted. How could this affect the graphite market?

SM: Overall, I expect it to have little impact on the flake graphite raw material but it could have a wider reaching impact on value added products. China tends to dominate these situations economically and I suspect this will be the major factor.

INN: You also wrote about droughts in China having an effect on graphite production there. Since China is currently the world’s largest flake graphite producer, what does this fragility of production mean for global graphite supplies? Should investors be supporting projects elsewhere?

SM: I have spent the past few weeks in Shandong to experience this first hand and it is no doubt having a negative impact on those processing and mining companies operating there.

The more serious trend shaping the graphite industry however is the price performance of flake graphite over the last two years, which has pushed higher cost miners and processors in China out of business.

This is capacity that has indefinitely come off-stream and will have an impact when flake graphite’s industrial markets rebound.

A second trend is the pollution situation – air and ground – that has impacted local communities in Shandong, China’s historical graphite producing area. Both of these economic and environmental factors have forced more than half of the regions graphite companies to close since 2012-2013.

There is still mining in the area, however, but at a very low level with the majority of flake being transported from Heilongjiang to Shandong’s processors.

Refractories: Global trends and the future for graphite’s biggest market
Dr Paschoal Bonadia Neto, Mineral Technology Manager, Mineral Technology Centre, Magnesita Refratários SA, Brazil
The evolving use and applications of graphite in the foundry industry
Richard Clark, Senior Technical Specialist, Morgan Advanced Materials, USA

at Graphite Supply Chain 2016, 13-15 November 2016, Newport Beach

INN: Why does most of the world’s graphite come from China?

SM: It’s a function of geology and markets. Some of the world’s largest flake graphite deposits are located in China’s north-east. The country also has an abundance of smaller flake graphite deposits in the central provinces.

Meanwhile, China’s sprawling steel industry between the 1980s and 2000s ensured a localised market for the product and this resulted in many graphite mines and plants opening up shop in the 1980s. As a result, many higher cost flake mines in the rest of the world closed.

This is slowly changing, however; many mines in China are no longer low cost (sub-$400 per tonne) – as seen with Shandong – and are slowly closing one by one.

The grades in China vary: from 3% to 5% in Shandong to 10% to 15% percent in Heilongjiang. However, Heilongjiang only has medium flake graphite while Shandong’s deposits also have a good proportion of larger flakes up to +32.

China: the future for graphite supply and demand
Haibo Mo, Deputy General Manager, Qingdao Hensen Graphite Co., China

at Graphite Supply Chain 2016, 13-15 November 2016, Newport Beach

INN: What other trends and catalysts can investors watch out for in the graphite industry this year?

SM: The value added trend is something to watch closely. While flake graphite’s overall price has been depressed in recent years, many companies in Europe and the US have made good margins on specialist, value added products such as expandable, spherical and micronised graphite.

Expandable graphite – a flame retardant – is seeing strong growth prospects as more environmentally damaging alternative such as brominated products are being outlawed.

Meanwhile, the demand for spherical graphite is going through the roof. Last year, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence tracked the total battery anode market as 80,000 tonnes, 52,000 tonnes of which was natural spherical graphite. This year that overall market will growth to 100-110,000 tonnes with natural spherical cementing its dominance over synthetic graphite.

These value added products are offering a completely different business prospect to flake graphite raw material. It’s a value game.

Batteries: An independent market overview and forecast to 2022
Sam Jaffe, Managing Director, Cairn Energy Research Associates , USA
Anodes for batteries: current to future technologies
Emma Kendrick, Chief Technologist Energy Storage, SHARP Laboratories of Europe Ltd, UK

at Graphite Supply Chain 2016, 13-15 November 2016, Newport Beach

INN: Do you still believe that demand for graphite will increase by 200% in the next four years? Why or why not?

SM: We believe the lithium-ion battery anode market could grow to at least 250,000 tonnes by end-2020. If you visit China and speak to these lithium-ion battery producers, something we do at Benchmark, then you realise how much growth the companies are planning for.

One such meeting I had recently resulted in the company more than trebling its output to 10GWh in under two years. We saw the plant and the new expanded area under construction. This equates to 12,000-15,000 tonnes of spherical graphite which is derived from 26,000-33,000 tonnes of flake graphite.

This is just one example of how China is forcing change in the industry. It’s not just about Tesla and its huge gigafactory: over 70% of new lithium-ion battery demand is coming from China.

We are already seeing the impact of this growth on uncoated spherical graphite prices which are up 10% this year.

Link to original interview page at INN

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Seeking world sources of graphite production?

Check out IMFORMED’s new Refractory Raw Material  World Sources Map®

Primary world sources and production capacity of key refractory raw materials

And then there were…still three producers of andalusite!

Andalusite Resources mining andalusite at Maroeloesfontein, Limpopo province, South Africa.

The long-awaited decision by South African authorities has appeared to have finally quashed Imerys’ hopes of amalgamating one of the world’s two independent producers of the refractory mineral andalusite.

In a statement issued today the South African Competition Tribunal announced that it has prohibited the proposed acquisition by Imerys South Africa (Pty) Ltd of Andalusite Resources (Pty) Ltd (for background and more details on andalusite see Imerys move to buy Andalusite Resources quashed).

This leaves the primary andalusite supply market still dominated by Imerys’ operations (around 60%, see chart), but retaining independents Andalusite Resources in South Africa and Andalucita SA in Peru.

According to the Commission, the merging parties proposed certain “behavioural conditions” in an attempt to address the concerns raised by the Commission’s initial investigation during 2015.

However, these were considered inadequate by the Commission and did not address the structural market change that was feared to materialise from the proposed transaction.

Moreover, the proposed behavioural conditions were also considered to be impractical from a monitoring and compliance perspective, and would have been “unduly onerous” on the Commission to effectively monitor.

The Commission found that the proposed acquisition represented a so-called “two to one” merger, leading to a monopoly in the mining, processing and sale of andalusite in South Africa, and also a near-monopoly in the global sale of andalusite.

No further details were released by the Commission, and the Tribunal is expected to issue its full reasons for prohibiting the proposed transaction in the coming weeks.

Although South Africa and France are its main andalusite sources, Imerys also has a smaller operation at Ku’erle, Yanji, Xinjiang, China

Road to prohibition

Termed an “intermediate merger”, the deal was first notified to the Competition Commission in January 2015.

In terms of the proposed transaction, Imerys intended acquiring the entire issued share capital of Andalusite Resources. Imerys South Africa (Pty) Ltd is a subsidiary of Imerys Refractory Minerals Glomel SA (formerly known as Damrec SAS).

Both companies mine and supply fine and medium grain sizes (0-3mm) to refractory producers in South Africa and overseas, although in South Africa only Imerys supplies premium coarse grains (>4mm).

During its subsequent investigation the Commission received numerous concerns from both producers and end-users of andalusite-based refractories regarding the effects of the proposed merger.

In particular, the Commission found that producers and users were concerned that should the merger proceed, they would be deprived of a competitive choice between Imerys and Andalusite Resources.

Indeed, there were fears expressed that the merged entity would increase the price of andalusite and/or divert andalusite sales from South Africa to export markets.

After the initial investigation, the Commission prohibited implementation of the merger on 16 April 2015.

Then on 4 May 2015, the merging parties referred the matter to the Tribunal requesting the consideration of the prohibited merger.

The hearing took place over several months in 2015 and 2016 and the last submissions from the merging parties were filed on 24 August 2016.

The Tribunal has now prohibited the transaction.

What next? Opportunities for others?

The result cannot have come as a complete surprise, given the somewhat forthright wording of the initial response from the Competition last year, and the clear fact that there are extremely limited commercially developed world sources of andalusite.

Despite the outcome, and awaiting more details on the Commission’s reasoning, Andalusite Resources told IMFORMED that it remains business as usual, and staff will be in attendance at next week’s 59th International Colloquium on Refractories at Aachen 28-29 September 2016.

Imerys’ failure to secure one of its main competitors will most likely be well received in the refractories market.

Indeed, the news may also be welcomed by other parties keen to gain traction in the refractory raw material supply sector, including investors, private equity funds, and perhaps even established players in the refractories sector.

Imerys meanwhile will most likely cast its net elsewhere to further expand its aluminosilicate mineral portfolio, although options are rather limited. Would a certain kyanite producer be on the French group’s radar?

With Imerys swallowing S&B Industrial Minerals and getting the fused and tabular alumina assets of Alteo over the course of the last two years, anything is possible!

Please drop in and see us at our booth at the 59th International Colloqium on Refractories in Aachen next week, 28-29 September 2016.

Pick up a complimentary copy of our new Refractory Raw Material World Sources Map®

Find out more about Graphite Supply Chain 2016, 13-15 November 2016, Newport Beach – the world’s new meeting place for the natural graphite industry

IBAR Nordeste Ltda of Brazil has announced the appointment of M!nerals by Cofermin as its exclusive sales agent for dead burned magnesia in Europe and other selected areas.

IBAR Nordeste produces dead burned magnesia (DBM) and caustic calcined magnesia (CCM), and basic refractory monolithics. The company is the largest CCM producer in the Americas.

IBAR’s Campo de Centro magnesite mine, near Brumado, Bahia, Brazil, exploiting an 80m tonne magnesite resource providing feedstock for caustic calcined and dead burned magnesia production. Courtesy IBAR

DBM has been mainly used for IBAR’s in-house consumption for refractory production, with some sold externally. Export markets will now be pursued with Cofermin.

Through the Cofermin network acting as the extended marketing arm, IBAR plans to provide customers in Europe and elsewhere with a stable, long term and competitive alternative to the traditional sources of DBM.

Significantly, Brazil is one of the top three DBM producers (along with Turkey and Slovakia, see chart) offering DBM grades as an alternative to China – an increasing trend for many refractory consumers weary of unpredictability and reliance on Chinese DBM supply.

Announcing

MagForum 2017

11-13 June 2017, Radisson Blu Hotel, Kraków

IBAR – a pedigree in magnesite

IBAR Nordeste is a company of IBAR – Indústria Brasileira de Artigos Refratários, which produces 170,000 tpa refractory products at Poá, and 30,000 tpa at Suzano, in the state of São Paulo.

In addition, IBAR produces 60,000 tpa of refractory chamotte at Poá for in-house consumption.

Established in 1942, IBAR Nordeste has two magnesia operations: the main one in Brumado, Bahia, with a production capacity of 160,000 tpa DBM and CCM, and at Jucás, Ceará with a capacity of 40,000 tpa CCM.

The Brumado plant has an export capacity of 40,000 tpa of DBM 90%, and also produces 40,000 tpa of basic refractory mixes.

Two sets of grades of DBM are produced: by single firing of magnesite; and by briquetting and double firing of magnesite, each process producing grades ranging 88-94% MgO.

CCM is supplied to the agricultural, animal feed, abrasives, construction, metallurgical, environmental, and chemical markets.

In recent years, IBAR has invested substantially in expansions of its magnesite business. According to the DNPM, the group invested BRL43m (US$10m) over 2013-2016.

IBAR’s plant in Brumado, Bahia, has a production capacity of 160,000 tpa DBM and CCM. Courtesy IBAR

Where are the world’s main refractory magnesia sources?

Check out IMFORMED’s new Refractory Raw Material World Sources Map®

Visit our stand and pick up a complimentary copy this week at the 59th International Colloquium on Refractories, 28-29 September, Aachen

Brazilian magnesite – alternative to China

Brazil hosts some of the world’s largest resources of macrocystalline (or sparry) magnesite deposits hosted in carbonate rocks, often in association with talc deposits such as in Bahia state.

Around 900m tonnes of magnesite resources are in two main areas: in the Eguas range around Brumado in south-west Bahia state, from which >98% production is located; and the Iguatu area of Ceará state. Brazil’s DNPM records 390m tonnes as mineable reserves.

In 2014, Brazil produced 1.6m tonnes of crude magnesite and 1.1m tonnes of processed magnesite, almost all from Bahia state (DNPM 2015 data). The country ranks seventh largest in world magnesite mining and fifth in DBM production (see chart).

In 2015, Brazil was the world’s fifth largest magnesia exporter (after Slovakia, Turkey, the Netherlands, and China, in ascending order; ITC data).

Despite being the second largest producer of DBM, most of Russia’s DBM production is consumed within the CIS.

Brazil exported just over 225,000 tonnes of magnesia (CCM and DBM) worldwide, with the main destinations being the USA, 48% and the Netherlands, 19% (latter as primary logistical conduit to European consumers; see chart).

IBAR is one of three main magnesite producers in Brazil.

Magnesita Refratários SA dominates DBM production from its Brumado operation, with production capacities of 320,000 tpa DBM, 60,000 tpa CCM, and 34,000 fused magnesia (the latter mostly for in-house consumption, and understood to be idled at present).

A smaller producer is Xilolite SA which has a talc and magnesite deposit in Brumado. The company is focused on high grade talc production but has recently invested in installation of a new Multiple Hearth Furnace (MHF) for 92+% MgO CCM production scheduled for 2017.

In Ceará state, Magnesium do Brasil Ltda mines magnesite at Jucás and Iguatu, and produces around 40,000 tpa CCM at Iguatu. In 2013, France’s Roullier Group (owner of Timab and Magnesitas Navarras SA of Spain) acquired 50% of Magnesium do Brasil.

In addition to the above magnesite producers, Buschle & Lepper SA produces high purity CCM sourced from sea water at Joinville, Santa Catarina for a wide range of chemical, agriculture, and speciality markets.

Cofermin receives German Foreign Trade Award 2016

M!nerals (Minerals GmbH & Co. KG) is a member of the industrial minerals marketing specialist Cofermin Group of companies, and focuses on the sourcing and distribution of materials such as bauxite, magnesite, fused alumina, graphite and chamotte.

The Cofermin Group has been active in the distribution of industrial minerals since 2000 and is well known for its transparent and effective approach to distribution channels and marketing strategies – especially for refractory minerals.

Earlier this year, the Essen-based company received the German Foreign Trade Award 2016.

Serving the world. Proud staff of Cofermin: from left Pawel Golak, Tim Geldmacher (behind), Ulrich Grunow (in front), Bettina Bohnen, Ralf Ossen.

The German Foreign Trade Award recognises companies that show exceptional co-operational engagement, utilise supporting programmes offered by the government and foreign trade
Associations, and show a constant history of economic success.

The assumption of social responsibility was one of the key points that convinced the jury to pick the international raw material distributor as this year’s winner out of a total of 30 competing companies. The jury also highlighted the international network that makes the company so efficient.

Tim Geldmacher and Bettina Bohnen, two of the managing partners of the group said during the ceremony in Bremen on 19 April: “We consider the whole world our potential market. We market specialty raw materials, but our most important resource are our employees.”

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Oilfield | Recycling | Logistics | Magnesia

Networking and Knowledge for the Industrial Minerals Business

IMFORMED is delighted to announce its Forum programme for 2017.

Following the success of its 2016 Forum series, IMFORMED will again be covering the oilfield, recycling, logistics and magnesia market sectors.

Our Forums are intelligently structured and expertly moderated events bringing together leading players to network in a convivial and highly informative environment.

For details please click on the titles below.

Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Dubai 2017
15-17 January 2017, Dubai

Mineral Recycling Forum 2017
7-8 March 2017, Rotterdam

Mineral Logistics Forum 2017
10-11 April 2017, Amsterdam

Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Houston 2017
21-23 May 2017, Houston

MagForum 2017
11-13 June 2017, Kraków

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Contact: Mike O’Driscoll

mike@imformed.com T: +44 (0)7985 986 255

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Contact: Ismene Clarke

ismene@imformed.com T: +44 (0)(0)7905 771 494